


he's an omega

by tobioufish



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alpha Hinata Shouyou, Alpha Nishinoya Yuu, Alpha Sugawara Koushi, Alpha Yamaguchi Tadashi, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Anxiety Attacks, Anxious Kageyama Tobio, Apologies, Awkward Kageyama Tobio, Beta Kunimi Akira, Beta Tanaka Ryuunosuke, Beta Tsukishima Kei, Beta kindaichi yuutarou, But its not sexual cuz they're in high school, Couch Cuddles, Crying Kageyama Tobio, Cute, Cute Kageyama Tobio, Developing Friendships, Emotional Kageyama Tobio, Fights, Fluff, Gen, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio Friendship, Hugs, Innocent Kageyama Tobio, Intersex Omegas, Kageyama Tobio-centric, Karasuno Family, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mention of blood, Minor Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Nesting, Omega Azumane Asahi, Omega Kageyama Tobio, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character Kageyama Tobio, Platonic Cuddling, Scent Marking, Secrets, Self-Harm, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kageyama Tobio, Sleepy Nishinoya Yuu, Soft Kageyama Tobio, Soft Tsukishima Kei, Soft Yamaguchi Tadashi, Sugawara Koushi is a Good Friend, Tags May Change, Tanaka Ryuunosuke Being an Idiot, Team Mom Sugawara Koushi, Team as Family, Tsukishima Kei Being Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei Being an Asshole, Tsukishima Kei is a Good Friend, Yamaguchi Tadashi is a Good Friend, its not intentional though, its not their fault tho, just a little bit, not really mentioned but thats what it is, team as pack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:28:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobioufish/pseuds/tobioufish
Summary: .....Kageyama Tobio is an omega. He wants to keep this fact about himself hidden as he had been excluded by classmates before because of it. This shouldn't be too hard, he'd done it all the way through middle school, after all, but he keeps encountering problems along the way.Can he keep it hidden?was originally gonna be some oneshots that didn't have to be in order, but it does follow a storyline so will probably have to be read in order!.....<3
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji & Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu, Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou & Sawamura Daichi, Iwaizumi Hajime & Kageyama Tobio, Kageyama Tobio & Kageyama Tobio's Mother, Kageyama Tobio & Karasuno Volleyball Club, Kageyama Tobio & Kindaichi Yuutarou, Kageyama Tobio & Kindaichi Yuutarou & Kunimi Akira, Kageyama Tobio & Sugawara Koushi, Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio & Tsukishima Kei & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Kageyama Tobio & Yamaguchi Tadashi, Nishinoya Yuu & Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 285
Kudos: 1056





	1. Pre-heat Misadventures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i edited this :)

Everyone thought Kageyama was going to be an alpha. His teammates at Kitagawa Daiichi, his teammates at Karasuno, and even before he presented, himself and his parents. His parents and sisters were all alphas, so it was assumed that he would be one too. 

His presentation was slightly painful as he was a male omega, and a uterus, vagina, and all the reproductive organs that were traditionally found in females, had to be formed. He still had a dick though, and didn't have periods every month like a typical person with a uterus would.

Although his family was surprised that he presented as an omega when he was ten, they still loved him the same, respected him, and took care of him. They listened to him when he said that he wanted to use scent blocking spray to hide that he was an omega because people on the elementary school volleyball team kept saying that they didn't need a weak omega on their team to drag them down. The only thing his parents prohibited him from doing was going on heat suppressants because repressing heats when young wasn't good for your health and fertility in the long run.

Kageyama wished that his parents would let him go on suppressants, not only to hide the fact that he was an omega, but also because his heats were extremely painful and it took a lot of effort not to cry when he was hit by cramps, and trying not to lash out at people when you aren't feeling well is very, very hard. 

Since he presented, Kageyama made sure to drink milk every day, determined to grow taller so that he could pass as an alpha. He started lifting light weights and adding in more protein to his already-healthy diet when he was thirteen, to build muscle mass. He didn't think he could take the stress of being rejected from another team, another pack, so he worked hard to hide his omega-ness from everyone.

He was lucky that he didn't have to miss school because of heats, though, like university students, because heats weren't sexual until around the age of eighteen. Some students at Karasuno chose to take a day or two off school on the most painful days of their heats, but Kageyama couldn't. Missing a day or two of school every month would be a little bit suspicious. 

Sometimes, he wished that he could miss a couple days, though.

___________

This morning, when he woke up, he sensed something was off. He didn't pay any mind to it and stumbled out of bed, into the washroom. When Kageyama stepped into the shower, he sighed as rivulets of steaming water slid over his strangely sensitive skin.

 _Whatever, I'm probably just tired,_ he thought.

After his shower, he threw on his gym uniform and sprayed scent blocking spray over his body, mostly concentrated on the scent glands on his neck and wrists. 

Kageyama greeted his sister, Miwa, in the hallway, on his way to the kitchen. He ate a quick breakfast and soon, he was opening the front door, bag slung over his shoulder, and breathing in the cool, crisp, morning air. The gravel of the sidewalk crunched under his feet and the wind ruffled his hair as a gentle breeze swept through the trees. 

Mornings were always his least favourite time of the day, but the walk to school always made them better. Soon enough, he arrived at the school gates and started walking to practice.

Throughout morning practice that day, and just the morning in general, he found it hard not to lash out at his teammates for making the slightest mistakes, and his classmates for being overly loud in class. At lunch, he ate slowly - compared to usual - and didn't eat a whole lot.

 _Something's definitely off,_ Kageyama thought.

Kageyama knew exactly _what_ was wrong when, in his last class, he was hit by a startlingly painful wave of pre-heat cramps. Of course, it just had to be in math class, the worst class, lucky him. 

He fought the urge to whimper and laid his head down on his desk. It was nice and cool against his heated and slightly flushed face. His arm discreetly pressed against his tender lower stomach. There was a deep ache there that frustrated him and made him want to cry or scream, or even thump his head repeatedly onto the surface of his desk. He wasn't sure he could take much more of this.

Why didn't he notice that _this_ was what was wrong? His heat _did_ come early this time, probably because of Yachi, the team's omega manager. Was he really so stupid as to not pack Advil or some kind of pain-relief medicine in his bag? He _did_ have his scent-blocking spray, luckily, in case he needed to re-apply. His scent always did get particularly strong around his heats, as was normal for most Omegas.

Kageyama tried to focus on what the teacher was saying, but it was quite hard with the dizzying pain festering in his stomach, and his growing headache. He couldn't pay as much attention to the teacher as usual - which was next to nothing already - when he was trying to keep his pain under wraps. 

_I can't let anyone know that I'm an omega,_ was his first thought.

He made it through math class with no obvious slip-ups. His classmates didn't notice a thing, but his teacher seemed to be looking at him with what looked like a concerned expression by the end of class. After the bell finally rang, he picked up his bag, which all of a sudden seemed to weigh a hundred pounds, and walked sluggishly out of the classroom, inconspicuously and minutely hunched over. Good thing he didn't have class duties today, sweeping or taking out the trash would not have been very fun.

Kageyama contemplated going straight to practice, but begrudgingly pushed that idea away. If he went straight to practice, his teammates - especially the more perceptive ones, like Sugawara-san or Tsukishima - that bastard - and the more nosy ones, like Nishinoya-san and Hinata - would see that something was wrong, and if they noticed something was wrong, they would not leave it alone. They could find out. 

In the end, Kageyama decided to go to the school nurse. Why? He did not exactly know, because usually school nurses think ice and Band-Aids solve every problem, but he thought that maybe, the nurse might be able to help. Hopefully she did not try to get him to put a bandaid on his stomach, that would just be stupid, even he knew that. He knew from experience - an elementary school nurse, who Kageyama was sure was a fraud, tried to do that once - that it did not work.

He trudged slowly down the hallway, slouching a little bit and dragging his feet, to the nurse's office.

The nurse knew he was an omega because they had to put it down on his school form, for safety reasons - read: if Kageyama happened to have an Omega drop at school. When he walked into the office, the nurse was there, sitting at her desk. The walls were white and so were the bedsheets, and there was light filtering in from outside, through the window. Kageyama was made to sit down on one of the three beds and the nurse asked him what was wrong. 

"My pre-heat cramps are really bad, are you allowed to give me something to help?" he asked, whispering so that nobody would happen to overhear.

"Sorry, Kageyama-kun, we aren't allowed to give students any medicine, unless you have a written note from your parents saying exactly what kind of medicine and how much you need," the nurse said, with a sympathetic look on her face.

Kageyama groaned internally and glared at the innocent cupboard that was decorated with stupid, happy, little stickers from across the room.

 _I'm such a dumbass, why the hell didn't I know to bring my medicine! Am I that stupid?!_ Kageyama thought.

The nurse patted him gently patted him on the head and told him that the cramps would probably get better soon and he would just have to wait it out here, or go home. Kageyama knew that they wouldn't, though.

"Can I call my mom please?," he said. He didn't quite know what to do, so he was hoping his mom did.

"Of course."

Kageyama pulled out his phone and pressed on his mom's contact to call her. The phone rang a couple times before his mother picked up.

_"Tobio?"_

"Hi, mom," Kageyama said in a quiet tone of voice, not wanting to be heard by too many people.

 _"What's wrong? You never call me during school. Especially if you have volleyball practice in the afternoon,"_ Kaede, Kageyama's mom said.

"I- umm, I'm having pre-heat cramps and I don't have any medicine on me to help. School's not allowed to give any... Think I should go to practice today? Or no."

Kageyama's mom knew how bad his cramps got and that he wouldn't have a productive practice, even if he did go. 

_"It's your decision, but I'm not sure if you would be able to be as involved in practice as you usually are if your cramps are bothering you enough to call me,"_ Kaede said, chuckling. Her son absolutely refused to call her unless it was some sort of emergency, or an urgent matter.

Tobio blushed, frowned, and said that he wanted to come home, but if he didn't go to practice, he wouldn't get a chance to improve at volleyball, or dumbass Hinata might be better than him next time. It would also be a bit suspicious to miss practice since he was at morning practice, at school all day, and had never missed a practice before, even when sick.

_"Tobio, it's okay to miss one day if you really need to. It's not worth going to practice if you aren't able to play your best. If any of your teammates catch you on your way out, just tell them that you're not feeling well."_

"Okay," Kageyama said, wrapping an arm around his stomach, since his stupid uterus decided was time to acting up again.

 _"I'm at work now, but I should be coming home in about half an hour. Remember, Miwa is sorting things out at her new apartment today, in Tokyo, so don't freak out if she comes home later than usual. You might be home by yourself for now though, will you be okay?"_ Kaede asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Bye mom," Kageyama said.

_"Bye Tobio, love you."_

Kageyama told the nurse that his mom said he was allowed to go home by himself. She let him go, as classes were already over for the day. 

As he stepped out of the school, holding his bag, he checked the time on his phone. They were fifteen minutes into practice. Kageyama sighed in relief. Nobody would question him on his way home if they were busy with practice.

He repressed a groan as another painful wave of cramps washed over him, and walked out onto the pathway to his home. The hot afternoon sun shone down on him. His body temperature was already raised a considerable amount because of his heat and the sun wasn't helping one bit. Kageyama was sure his cheeks were bright red from the both the pain and heat. 

He rubbed a hand over his face as he walked. The walk home, although relatively short, felt like it took forever.

Why had he come to school today? All he wanted to do was curl up at home, make a cozy nest, drink warm milk, get some cuddles, and watch volleyball matches on his computer, but of course, there was stupid homework because of _school_. It's not like he always did his homework, though, so it's okay.

When he got home, he immediately went into his room, wiped the scent-blocking spray off his scent glands, and changed into comfier clothes. He took some Advil and started to lay soft blankets and pillows out onto the floor, along with some of the clothes with his family's scent on them. Just as he was finishing up making his nest, he heard the front door open. Mom was home.

For some reason, when he was on or near his heat, he felt the need to give and receive affection, and to be scented. He couldn't get that at school and it was making him quite miserable. He quickly walked over to the front door and gave his mom a hug, burying his face in her neck and breathing in her scent. Tears of relief filled his eyes. Gosh, why was he so fucking emotional?

"Hey Tobio," Kaede said, putting her bag on the floor as she was attacked with a hug from her slightly taller son. She ran a hand down his back.

"Mom," Kageyama said, and he let out a little sniffle as he tried to keep the unnecessary tears at bay. Why, why, _why_ was he crying? Did he miss his mom that much, or was he just craving attention and affection? Probably the latter, he decided. It was less embarrassing.

"Eh? Tobio, w-what's wrong? Is your stomach bothering you?" Kaede asked.

"A-a bit, I took medicine already and I, _umm_ ," Tobio said, blushing and averting his eyes.

"Huh? What is it? Do you need something?"

"I j-just wanted to, to c-hmm-cuf-cuddle, um, please?" Tobio stammered. It looked like he would rather pour all his milk down the sink than say that sentence. A sour expression was plastered onto his face, on top of his already teary gaze, showing how much effort it took to get those words out of his mouth. 

"Oh, we can do that, honey. Just give me a couple minutes, I need to take a shower and get changed. Can you wait?"

Tobio nodded.

"Okay, do you want to wait for me in your room, or the family room?"

"My room. I m-made my nest," Tobio sniffed.

"Alright, that's great, Tobio. I'll be there soon, just wait for me."

Kageyama walked back to his room and sat in his nest, waiting for his mom to come join him. He burrowed into the soft, organized pile of blankets in his nest, trying to get comfortable. At some point in time, when he was waiting, he decided to get his computer out and start watching professional volleyball matches on the internet to take his mind off his discomfort. He was so immersed in the game going on on the screen, he didn't notice his mom come into the room.

"Tobio, can I join you in your nest?" she asked.

Tobio nodded, pausing the video on his computer and shifting over to make room. Kaede climbed into the soft nest and took Tobio into her arms. He snuggled in closer and pressed his face near her scent glands, inhaling her calming, familiar scent. Tobio's body practically melted as his mom started to rub his sore, slightly bloated stomach. He started to purr, a deep, soft, and content rumbling noise filling the room.

A couple videos later, Tobio felt his eyes drooping with fatigue, occasionally dozing off and waking back up a couple seconds later.

"Tobio?" He heard his mom say. He gave a sleepy mumble in reply.

"I have to make some dinner now, are you okay here by yourself?"

Tobio said a sleepy 'mhm', and his mom planted a soft kiss on his warmer-than-usual forehead.

"L've you, Mom," Tobio said sleepily.

He heard his mom reply with an, "I love you, I'll come get you when dinner's ready."

Tobio's mom climbed out of the nest and draped a blanket over his prone, tired body. He stirred a little, finding what seemed to be a more comfortable spot in his nest, and settled back down. The door clicked open and shut as Kaede left the room.

Tobio soon fell asleep, safe, warm, and happy, in his nest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh, you made it! I hope you liked it!  
> Pls tell me if there was something wrong, I'm not afraid of criticism... but please try to be kind :D


	2. What the Fuck, Tsukishima, you buttmunch.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima says some stuff to Kageyama...  
> Kageyama starts crying, uh oh...

Kageyama slowly blinked his eyes open, groaning as he reached an arm out of his cocoon of blankets to smack the off button on his alarm clock. Red numbers stared back at him. Fucking hell, it was so early, why did mornings even exist, did anyone even like mornings? They must be out of their minds.

He sluggishly rolled back onto his back and stared up at his ceiling with a small sigh. Last week had been a total nightmare. He had had a painful, uncomfortable heat that lasted for four days or something similar, Kageyama couldn't quite remember. It was accompanied by a wonderful two days prior to the start of his heat, where he was blessed with pre-heat cramps. Cool.

Trying to hide the fact that he was an omega was much harder than he thought it would be, especially as he got older. Kageyama had to miss a day of practice (the first time he'd missed practice all year) due to his pre-heat cramps being too painful to deal with without any pain medication of some sort - which his dumb ass had forgotten to bring to school. Thankfully, he had managed to avoid his teammates questions about why he had missed a day of practice (which he never does), which he counted as a small blessing.

Now, Kageyama had yet another problem. Gosh, the universe was _really_ working in his favour, wasn't it. He was troubled with this insatiable urge to bond with his teammates, platonically though. He had no explanation as to where this urge had come from, other than the simple fact that he was an omega.

This _desire_ of his, entailed wanting to scent his teammates and be scented in return, wanting to spend time with his teammates - soon-to-be pack, hopefully - outside of practice, wanting to be close to them physically (which he knew would be hard if he did decide to act on it, because Tsukishima would never willingly get closer than half a metre away from him, Kageyama knew, and they all thought he was a beta, or he just hadn't presented) and emotionally - he wanted to build trust and a strong friendship and bond. He already noticed a sense of trust between himself and his teammates, which was weird because he's never been good at noticing these types of things, or getting people to trust him in the first place. 

_I guess that's a good thing though,_ he thought, rolling out of bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

He walked over to his dresser and sprayed his scent blocking spray over the scent glands on his neck and wrists before pulling on his gym uniform. There was morning practice today, possibly the only good part about that morning - aside from the walk to school - because the rest of the morning would be spent sitting in a classroom, listening to a teacher drone on and on and on about some topic that he didn't particularly care for.

Kageyama went through his usual morning routine, eating a quick breakfast, and slinging his heavy bag over his left shoulder before heading out the door. 

When he was halfway to the gym, on his way to practice, an orange blur rushed in front of him, running at top speed towards the gym.

"Oi, dumbass Hinata! Stop running! I can't let you beat me!" Kageyama yelled as he started to run after the bouncing mandarin.

About a minute later, he and Hinata were panting in front of the entrance to the gym. The gym wasn't open yet. They were the first ones there.

"Hah, I beat-hah- you, you- stupid head," Hinata panted.

"No, it-hah, i-it was a - tie, moron," Kageyama said in retaliation.

"Fin-hah-fine, it was a tie, then."

They just stood there, breathing heavily, until they heard footsteps coming behind them. The two boys looked up to see Sugawara-san standing there, looking a bit tired but still smiling as he usually did, with the key.

"Good morning, Sugawara-senpai!" Kageyama said at the same time that Hinata said his own greeting. Kageyama resisted the urge to drape himself over his upperclassman and trap him in a hug. The effort of resisting must have resulted in him making a constipated-looking face, because Sugawara chuckled lightly.

 _Ugh, why did I have to be an Omega, damn it._ _It's so weird that Hinata and Sugawara are Alphas when they are smaller and more gentle, like stereotypical omegas._ _It's so hard to stop myself from doing something_ weird. _Ugh, whatever,_ Kageyama thought.

"Yeah, hey! I'll open up the gym for us, then we can get to practicing," Sugawara said, breaking Kageyama out of his reverie.

"Okay, thanks!"

When Sugawara-san opened up the gym, Hinata and Kageyama had already set up the nets and were warming up within a few minutes of their entrance.

When they were stretching, Kageyama tried his hardest not to get the slightest bit closer to Hinata. They were already sitting pretty close to begin with, almost touching, so Kageyama was able to smell Hinata's citrusy, bright, Alpha scent, which satisfied his inner Omega greatly but not completely. It felt like he needed physical reassurance that he was part of a pack now, that his pack cared for him and needed him just as much as he needed them.

Soon, the rest of their teammates filtered in, calling out a greeting as they entered. Hinata and Kageyama had moved onto practicing some recieves - well, Hinata was practicing recieves and Kageyama was spiking at him. Things were going well until Tsukishima, a fellow first year and a Beta, and Yamaguchi, Tsukishima's fairly quiet Alpha friend, came in. 

_They'll probably end up mating,_ Kageyama had thought absentmindedly when he first met them.

"Hey, King, already working your loyal servant hard, I see," Tsukishima drawled monotonously as he and Yamaguchi strolled in.

Kageyama narrowed his eyes as he tried his best to ignore Tsukishima and focus on spiking at Hinata. That remark didn't really get to him. He could ignore Tsukishima and not cause any drama, not ruin the pack just because he couldn't get over something that happened in middle school.

But then, Tsukishima said, "It's a wonder he hasn't got fed up with you yet, King. You're demanding so much from him! No wonder your old teammates didn't want to put up with you, you're so selfish."

"What the fuck, Tsukishima?!?" Tanaka yelled.

"You buttmunch!" Hinata said, following his senpai's example and defending the person who was - probably - his closest friend.

Kageyama heard Tanaka, Sugawara, and some other packmates start scolding Tsukishima and asking him why he said that, in the background, but his mind was too consumed by his thoughts for him to really pay attention to what was going on around him.

_A packmate doesn't like you._

_Packmate validated old pack's reason for leaving._

_So, packmate will leave._

_Teammates will leave._

_Everyone will leave._

His eyes started burning. 

_No, no, no,_ he thought, _Why am I so upset? I don't even like Tsukishima, that bastard. He's so irritating..._

"...eyama, Kageyama-kun, _Kageyama-san_ ," He heard Hinata say.

"What, dumbass?"

"Kageyama, are you okay?" Hinata asked.

"Of course, stupid, what makes you think I'm not?"

Hinata looked at him with a confused look on his face, head cocked to the side.

"You're _crying,_ " Sugawara chimed in, voice gentle and quiet. He wasn't scolding Tsukishima anymore, just focusing on his distressed kouhai and new packmate.

Kageyama brought a shaky hand up to his face and was surprised when he felt wet tear tracks trailing over his cheeks.

"Oh," he said, almost whispering. He had a shocked expression on his face and unbidden tears still slipped out of his eyes.

He was sure that if he hadn't been using his scent blocking spray, his distressed scent would be filling the gym, telling everyone that there was an upset Omega. But luckily, his scent blocking spray worked well. His secret was still safe.

But _wait,_ he started fucking crying? What would he do now? What do you do when you start to cry in front of people? He sure as hell didn't know! 

The next thing he knew, Sugawara was pulling him over to the gym doors by the sleeve of his cream coloured sweater.

"Umm, s-sorry," Kageyama said quietly once they were outside, breath hitching slightly, wiping his tears, "I d-don't know why that happened, sorry."

"No, no, Kageyama-kun. Don't be sorry, it's okay to cry. Tsukishima-kun said something that was hurtful to you, it's not your fault. Daichi is talking to Tsukishima now, okay? We'll make sure that he learns not to say stuff like that to you or anyone else in the pack. Don't worry about him, I think you two will be friends soon enough." Sugawara said, releasing some of his calming Alpha pheromones to try to get Kageyama to calm down.

"Okay," Kageyama mumbled with a downcast face, not exactly sure how to respond.

"Okay, do you think you're ready to go back inside yet? Or do you wanna stay out here?" Sugawara asked, putting a firm hand on Kageyama's shoulder. He was so kind. Kageyama was so lucky to have him as a packmate and senpai.

Kageyama paused for a minute, thinking, before responding, "C-can, is it okay if I stay here for a few more minutes?"

"Of course! Would you like me to stay with you?"

"Umm, is tha-that really okay?"

"Of course!" Sugawara affirmed.

"Yeah, okay then... Please s-stay?"

A few minutes later, Sugawara and Kageyama were sitting against the wall of the gym, Kageyama's head pillowed on Sugawara's shoulder. His inner omega was positively _preening_ at the thought that at least one of his packmates (probably) cared about him, just a little bit. He sure was a sucker for positive attention and affection. _Ugh_.

He breathed in and was delighted to find that Sugawara was still releasing calming pheromones. They helped calm him down a lot, and were slightly familiar, seeing as Kageyama had grown up in a family of Alphas that used their pheromones to help calm him down during stressful times, or when he wanted comfort.

After a couple more minutes of resting and calming down, Kageyama told Sugawara that he was ready to go back into the gym. They stood up, stretching a little bit, and brushing the back of their shorts off.

"U-umm, Sugawara-senpai?" Kageyama said, pulling lightly on his upperclassman's sweater sleeve to catch his attention.

Sugawara turned around with a concerned look on his face, "Hm? What is it, Kageyama?"

"What am I supposed to do now? I-i just started crying in the middle of practice? Will the rest of the team say anything? What am I supposed to say? What do I say to _Tsukishima_?"

Sugawara let out a breathy laugh before saying, "Don't worry, nobody will say anything to you. It's normal to cry, everyone's done it. As for Tsukishima, he _will_ be apologizing to you at some point or another, but maybe for the rest of this practice, you two can spend some time apart. We can just let the tension calm down a little for now. Does that sound okay?" 

Kageyama nodded, "Yeah."

"Alright, let's go back inside now? I'm sure the rest of the pack is missing us," Sugawara said with a smile, turning to start walking back to the gym.

"Yeah," Kageyama said with wide eyes.

As they started walking towards the gym doors, Kageyama's lips quirked up in the smallest, genuine smile. He had found packmates and teammates that cared for him.

Finally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback or criticism, you can leave a comment if you want to!   
> Thanks!  
> <3


	3. You're my packmate now and I, ugh disgusting, I care about you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finally! apology!!!!!!!  
> owo ive been waiting for this one.  
> <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy fluffballs i just read in another life by littleluxray and it absolutely DESTROYED me. I was crying for the entire second half of the fic, its so soul crushing... you should read it! (if you haven't already) T- T

Kageyama had been feeling a little stressed for the past couple days, which was not good. 

Sugawara said that Tsukishima would be apologizing to him soon, but he still hadn't said a single word to Kageyama since that day in the gym, which was just over a week ago. It was starting to take a toll on his inner Omega, who just wanted to be loved, held, and needed. 

_Tch,_ Kageyama thought, _how annoying. Tsukishima can't hate me that much, can he?_

This was really worrying him. Why couldn't that idiot Tsukishima hurry up and apologize? Was he scared or something? Kageyama just wanted to go up to him and ask him just that. He didn't though, not because _he_ was scared, only because he didn't want to cause any more drama within the team or tension between him and Tsukishima.

What made it even worse was that his mother had gone on a business trip and his sister was in Tokyo for _work._ He couldn't remember the last time he was scented by someone or cuddled. 

Kageyama was quickly jolted out of his thoughts by the voice of his history teacher.

"Kageyama-kun, do you know that much about today's lesson that you don't need to pay attention? Then why don't you answer the question I _just_ asked to the class?"

"U-um, I don't, I- sorry," Kageyama stuttered, looking down at his nearly blank notebook that was sitting in front of him, just filled with messy doodles of cartoon-y volleyballs and sparse, disorganized notes from random times in the lesson.

Some soft giggles rang throughout the room. Most of his classmates were looking back towards his desk, waiting for him to answer, waiting for him to _mess up_ his answer.

He absolutely hated being called on randomly in class, especially when he wasn't paying attention. It was scary. His heart beat rapidly in his chest and his palms were sweating.

When Kageyama stayed silent and made no move to answer, his teacher, the old meanie, sighed and called on the girl sitting two rows in front of him, who must have answered with the correct answer because the teacher nodded approvingly and wrote something down on the blackboard.

Class passed by slowly, so slowly. Kageyama tried desperately not to fall asleep, which was hard because this was his least favourite class. History class was too boring, no, _school_ was too boring. Why couldn't he just play volleyball instead? He didn't even _need_ school if he was going to be a professional volleyball player, anyways. Who needs to know about some war that happened like, two hundred years ago, to play professional volleyball? Seriously.

The rest of the school day crawled by. Math class, the dreaded English class, science class, and thankfully, after that, they had volleyball practice. The only problem that Kageyama had with that was that he had to see Tsukishima. Who Kageyama was sure _hated_ him with all his heart. 

_Great, goodbye dreams of finally having a kind pack,_ Kageyama thought.

He walked up the stairs to the club room, sliding his hand over the smooth, chilled surface of the metal railing. The feeling of the cool surface of the banister startled him, just the smallest bit, upon first touch.

He was a little early and wasn't expecting anyone else to be there, so when he opened the door to the room, his eyes widened. Tsukishima was there. He was sitting down, putting on his shoes and kneepads.

When the tall, blond middle blocker saw Kageyama enter the room, he 'tch'-ed, rolled his eyes and looked in the opposite direction, quickly pulling on his shoes and exiting the room, scoffing in his usual Tsukishima-ish manner.

Kageyama walked over to his locker. A pout materialized on his face. Tsukishima was still mad? His inner Omega felt so hurt; resentment from a packmate _always_ got to him. Kageyama was sure he would be whining if he wasn't so focused on _not_ doing just that. If he didn't have such strong scent-blocking spray, his scent would surely be tainted by the bitter bite of distress and frustration. 

Sometimes, he wanted to just go a day without his scent-blocking spray so others would see just how much he was affected by their words and actions, because people seemed to think he was emotionless and insensitive, but deep down, he knew he couldn't. 

He knew his Karasuno teammates were nicer than his previous ones, they didn't make fun of Azumane-san for being an Omega, but Azumane had known them for longer. He still felt like he would be ridiculed for being an Omega, like he was before, just because they didn't like him as much. 

Male Omegas were rare and some sexist people saw them as weak or as whores (Kageyama didn't know what the heck this word meant), but Kageyama knew that that wasn't the case. After all, he wasn't weak at all and he wasn't a 'whore' - not like it would be a problem if he was, whatever that word meant, and Azumane-san wasn't any of those things either, he guessed, seeing as he didn't know what 'whore' meant.

The club room door slammed open and Kageyama jumped. He hadn't realized he'd been staring at his unopened locker for this whole time. Looking over at the door, he saw that Tanaka - one of the Beta second years - and Nishinoya - one of the Alpha second years - had barged into the room, squabbling loudly.

Kageyama quickly got changed and headed to the gym to get an early start on warming up. At least he made it there before Hinata. 

During practice, Kageyama felt a little bit _off,_ just like he had been feeling the whole day, but this time, the feeling was amplified - maybe because he was exercising _._ He didn't know why he felt like this though. He was stressed, and maybe he was becoming touch starved? He didn't remember how long it had been since any of his family members scented him or cuddled with him. Probably not since his mother left for that trip. Oh well, nothing can be done about that now.

If anyone noticed his discomfort, they didn't say anything, which he was grateful for because he would not know how to explain what he was feeling without somehow relating it back to being an Omega. 

After their team's practice ended, Kageyama stayed back a little longer to do some individual practice, working on his jump serves. Tired and achy, he walked back to the club room alone and got packed up quickly. 

When he exited the room, he saw someone waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. Tsukishima. Kageyama made eye contact with him and neither of them made a move to talk. He started to walk past the tall middle blocker when he felt a hand grab his wrist.

"What," Kageyama said.

"Look, King, I'm really sorry about what I said before. I know that I went too far," Tsukishima said in a surprisingly gentle tone of voice.

"It's fine. I knew you hated me anyways, I don't know why I was so upset," Kageyama looked down at his shoes.

"Why would you think that?"

"What? I just said I didn't know why I was upset, and _you_ don't need to know what I was thinking at that time."

"No, idiot, that's not what I meant. Why would you think I hated you?"

"O-oh. It's pretty obvious if you ask me. You're always saying mean stuff," Kageyama replied quietly.

Tsukishima sighed, "King- _Kageyama_ , I don't hate you, okay? I really didn't know I went too far, I'm sorry. I couldn't smell your distressed scent."

"Oh, um, I-uh haven't presented yet, so...?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Are you stupid? Well, I already know _that_ ," Tsukishima said.

"Hey, bastard!" Kageyama said indignantly.

"Even if you haven't presented, you would still have a faint scent. I'm a Beta, so I have a stronger sense of smell than people of other secondary genders, so I would most likely be able to smell your scent." Tsukishima ignored his packmate's little outburst.

"I use scent blocking spray," Kageyama said.

"Why? It's not required at Karasuno, and nobody else uses it, other people's scents don't bother anybody."

"It- it's none of your business, Stingyshima! I just do, okay?"

Tsukishima looked at him with his usual, irritating, Tsukishima-ish expression and said, "Okay, I have to go. Just- I, I don't hate you, got it? You're my packmate now and I, ugh disgusting, I care about you. You have to tell me if I'm going too far since you're using scent-blocking spray. Also, you better not tell anybody I said that."

"'Kay," Kageyama said, inwardly grateful that Tsukishima didn't hate him, _cared_ about him, even.

It was starting to get awkward just standing there, not saying anything.

"Well, bye, King," Tsukishima said, waving. He started to walk away when Kageyama called out to him and told him to wait.

"What is it, King?"

"Um, c-cnIhveahg?"

"What? Speak up, I can't hear you."

"Can I h-have a ho-heg- _hug_?" Kageyama managed to ask. He started to curl into himself, expecting some sort of rejection, like he'd experienced with previous packmates.

"Fine," Tsukishima said, breaking Kageyama out of his doubtful thoughts, "Come here."

"Really?" Kageyama wore an incredulous expression.

"Yes, now hurry up before I change my mind, idiot! I don't have all day."

Kageyama stepped closer to Tsukishima, stepping into the Beta's open arms. He breathed in Tsukishima's very faint scent that was similar to the way a strawberry smelled. He wrapped his arms around Tsukishima's waist as the other boy's arms came to embrace him too. Kageyama could feel himself relaxing against the warmth of the taller boy as he gently rubbed his head against the crook of Tsukishima's neck. The other boy didn't mind, surprisingly.

His inner omega preened with delight.

_Packmate accepts us,_

_Pack won't leave._

Many of his worries and doubts about his new pack faded away as he was held in a friendly, _caring_ embrace.

A small smile tugged at the corners of his plump lips as he and Tsukishima let go of each other and said their goodbyes.

\-----

That night, as Kageyama was falling asleep, he couldn't help but feel excited about the next day. He would get to see his new pack again. His wonderful, kind, accepting, _loving_ new pack, so much different than his Kitagawa Daiichi pack, so much more understanding.

 _What had I done in my past life to deserve this?_ Kageyama thought, as he drifted off.

_It must have been a very good thing._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback or corrections, please let me know!  
> <33333


	4. What the fuck, brain.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suga and Noya are getting ✨suspicious✨

Okay, so Kageyama knew that he wasn't supposed to go too long without being scent marked, because he was an Omega, but his mom still hadn't come home from her business trip and Miwa, his sister, was at work and didn't live with them anymore. 

This might not seem like a big problem, but to him, to an Omega, touch was very important and he couldn't ask anyone on the team to be scent marked often because that would raise suspicion and they would _know._ Alphas, Betas, and the Unpresented didn't need touch as much and as often as Omegas, and weren't affected as much by touch starvation. After all the hard work Kageyama'd put into hiding his secondary gender, the looming thought of people - even people he trusted - knowing and making fun of him - although he told himself that that would never happen because his packmates were extremely caring - seemed daunting.

\-----

His touch starvation had been building up from before Tsukishima apologized, ever since his mom went on that trip. Tsukishima's - wonderful, warm, familial - hug had helped soothe his ache for touch temporarily, only for about a day, before his symptoms from before had hit him full force and with astonishing intensity.

The symptoms of being touch starved included: mood swings, irritability, being prone to lashing out, aches in different parts of the body, headaches, sore muscles, and insomnia. 

For the past couple of days, Kageyama had been experiencing many of these symptoms. It took hours for him to fall asleep, if he even slept at all. If he _did_ sleep, he often woke up with a headache and sore muscles - although that could just be from volleyball practice. 

He lashed out faster at people if they made a mistake at practice, were too loud, or bothered him just the slightest bit. Sometimes, one minute he'd be relatively calm and relaxed, and the next moment he'd be angry and ready to lash out, or sad to the point of crying - if someone said something that could be remotely upsetting to him. 

Even though he was being hurt by these symptoms, Kageyama did _not,_ absolutely not let himself cry, especially around other people - although that had happened to him once and gosh, was that embarrassing. This wasn't particularly good for him either as bottling up your emotions wasn't good for anybody, only causing more stress, more worry, and therefore more mood swings.

The worst part is that his teammates were starting to notice. Take volleyball practice from two days ago as an example.

\-----

_"Oi, Kageyama! Give me some tosses!" Hinata yelled from across the gym. It was after practice, and sometimes, he and Hinata would stay after for some independent practice._

_Kageyama did not feel like answering. He felt sluggish and tired from a lack of sleep and he had a pounding headache that was_ this _close to splitting his skull in two. He ignored Hinata._

_"Kageyamaaa! Why're you ignoring me, stupid?!"_

He thinks you're stupid, packmate thinks you're stupid, he's gonna leave you, _Kageyama thought. His eyes stung with an onset of tears, but he drank from his water bottle, looked at the ceiling and blinked to diffuse the tears and keep them from falling. Okay, he wasn't going to cry anymore._

_"Kage-"_

_"SHUT UP, DUMBASS!" Kageyama yelled. He did_ not _mean to do that. What the fuck, brain._

_All the teammates who remained in the gym looked at him with a surprised look in his eyes. Although he was relatively grumpy and pouty, he didn't lash out like that as often anymore, and when he did, it wasn't over something so stupid._

_"Hah?! Why're you so mad, Kageyama? You've been so mad lately! I didn't even do anything!" Hinata shouted back._

_"I don't know, dumbass!" Kageyama said in a loud tone of voice, before lowering his volume and saying, "I-I guess I'm just tired, sorry."_

_His packmates and teammates looked at him with bewildered expressions - which he noticed. He looked down at the knot of his shoelace. He could practically see the thoughts swarming like bumblebees around their heads. First of all, Kageyama apologized. He rarely does that outside of matches. Secondly, he apologized non-aggressively! Whenever he did apologize, whether that was in volleyball games or practice, it was always yelled and followed by a head-grab on Hinata's head when it was said that he was forgiven._

_"I'm gonna go home," Kageyama said, rubbing his eye with a balled up hand._

_Kageyama had absolutely no right to be this cute._

He remembers thinking that _that_ was a disaster. Now, he knew that he had to pay attention to what expressions he shows on his face and what he says and does. Kageyama can't raise suspicion.

\-----

Today, his day had been a nightmare. Firstly, he barely got any sleep, maybe thirty minutes to about an hour. Not healthy, he needed more sleep to play volleyball at his full potential. 

Secondly, his morning walk had been positively _atrocious._ A little child crashed into him while playing with her friend on their way to school and it was fucking impossible to get mad at the kids because of his stupid 'mAtErNaL iNsTiNcT' that most Omegas were said to have, which of course, he had. 

Then, he was late for his first class, _geography_ class, because the traffic signal took five fucking million years to turn to the walking signal, and when he walked into his class, his teacher literally interrogated him for what felt like hours, but was really only five minutes, in front of the whole class. People stared at him. He felt so embarrassed he could cry, or punch his teacher, but those two things were no-goes, because _rules_.

At Lunch, when Kageyama walked up to the vending machine right beside the corner of the building, his favourite vending machine, he looked and found that there was no fucking milk. Fuck, he couldn't even have the pleasure of a small mercy. He settled on buying milk tea, not chocolate milk, that shit's fucking sickeningly sweet.

The rest of his afternoon classes were so boring, he felt like he was losing brain cells instead of getting smarter. Then, finally, he had volleyball practice.

"Hey, Kageyama!" Sugawara called as Kageyama stepped into the gym, fully changed and ready for practice. He gestured for Kageyama to go over to where he was, and Kageyama obliged, calling out a soft greeting as he came over. Kageyama was just a little confused about why he wasn't the first one to practice, as per usual.

Sugawara shot him a blindingly bright smile as he said, "How have you been lately? You've been acting a little strange!"

"U-um, I've been fine... How... are you?" Kageyama said slowly.

"I'm good, but that's besides the point. I know something's up," the Alpha said, tapping his finger on his temple gently, "Do you feel comfortable talking here?"

"N..o?" Kageyama said. He was still confused as to where this conversation was going. He didn't really want to talk, he kind of just wanted to go home and snuggle into his nest that he made out of stress and lack of comfort.

"Okay! Come with me!" Sugawara said. 

Kageyama followed his upperclassman to a grassy, sunny area outside the gym, around the back. Sugawara beckoned him to come sit down under a tree. It was so peaceful.

"So," Sugawara said in a bright, kind tone, startling Kageyama just for a second, "Yamaguchi told me that it seemed like something was going on with you, and I thought I was the only one who noticed before...is something going on? Do you wanna talk about it?"

"No, don' really wanna talk right now. M'kinda sleepy, Suga-senpai," Kageyama said, fighting not to close his eyes. The quiet environment was practically lulling him to sleep.

"Yeah, you've seemed tired the past few days. You can rest your head on me if you want to, you're practically falling asleep now, anyways," Sugawara said, looking at his underclassman with a slightly concerned look on his pretty face.

"'Kay," Kageyama mumbled. He gently rested his head on his packmate's shoulder and reveled in the comfort of _touch_ as he dozed off. 

\-----

Sugawara sat there, leaning against the trunk of the tree with Kageyama's head resting on his shoulder. The sun shone down on them as the tree's leaves rustled in the wind. 

After a couple minutes, Nishinoya burst out of the gym yelling, "SUGA-SAN! DAICHI-SAN IS LOOKING FOR YOU! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Sugawara almost jumped out of his skin and Kageyama's head got jostled around on his shoulder. Luckily enough, Kageyama was sleepy enough to sleep through the yelling.

" _Noya! I'm here! Kageyama is sleeping, shush_!" Sugawara whisper-yelled.

" _SORRY SUGA-SAN_!" Nishinoya whispered back. He jogged over to where the two other boys were sitting and plopped down beside Sugawara.

"So, what's up with him?" Nishinoya asked, gesturing to the sleeping Kageyama with his head.

Sugawara sighed and said, "I don't know, but I'm kinda worried. He's been looking so tired and he fell asleep so quickly."

"Yeah, I've noticed that he's been off! He's more yell-y. I was wondering if somethin' was up."

"I don't know what to do, should I ask him about it?" Sugawara said.

"Maybe give it a few days and then ask? I can help you ask too! He should know that _Noya-senpai_ will _always_ be there to help!" Nishinoya said with the sparkly look in his eyes that he always has after someone called him 'senpai'.

"Ah, yeah, good idea. You can definitely help me, _Noya-senpaiii,_ " Sugawara said in a teasing tone of voice.

"Yeah, alright!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg im sorry this took a little bit of a long time 🥺😓  
> i hope u liked it!  
> <33333


	5. P-please don't leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> tw anxiety/panic attack? I marked it with a little hazard sign ⚠, so if that puts you off, please skip that part until the next hazard sign ⚠  
> also tw slight mention of blood and mention of unintentional self harm but nothing too graphic 
> 
> (spoiler:  
> hes digging his nails into his skin unconsciously thats it)
> 
> i updated the tags! this is also briefly edited by me one day after i posted it.
> 
> kageyama panics, among other things.  
> tw part and the end of the tw part is marked like this:  
> \----- ⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠

Over the next few days, after the conversation with Sugawara, Kageyama only became more grumpy. The nap he had gotten to take had helped his mood a little bit, but not very much.

He had only become more touch starved because the casual touches he recieved during practice, like high fives or slaps on the back for a job well done, just weren't enough for someone with his second gender, an Omega. Kageyama was moodier and more volatile than ever, and sometimes the aches and the soreness he felt in his body were so overwhelming that it took an absurd amount of effort to overcome the pain during practice.

It was already hard for him to ask for things, let alone something that could reveal his secret. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't just casually ask to be scent marked like Hinata, Noya, or Tanaka could. He sometimes envied Azumane because he didn't even have to ask others himself, Nishinoya did for him, or Nishinoya just scented him himself.

More and more teammates had started to notice his behaviour and some were starting to become irritated at him for it. Others were a little worried because his personality wasn't _that_ bad, was it? It stressed him out when others became annoyed at him, especially while he wasn't in top condition. He hoped that today's practice would go well.

"Tanaka-san!" Kageyama called during a practice game at the end of one of today's team practice. He tossed a set up to his upperclassman and the ball was blocked by Tsukishima and Yamaguchi who were on the other team.

"My bad, that was a great toss," Tanaka said.

Kageyama meant to stay silent, but ended up blurting out, "Then make the damn point, please!"

Kageyama felt anxiety building up inside of him rapidly. Why did he just say that? What the heck. If he didn't do well enough, if he failed to send a set to the spikers to get a point for their team, would they abandon him? If they didn't like his attitude, would they leave him, send him off the court? Would they call him 'King' and turn their backs and say that 'they were never friends in the first place, that they never considered him to be part of the pack' when he tried to apologize? 

His teammates turned to him with shocked looks on their faces. He gasped.

Kageyama threw a hand over his mouth, shocked, stressed, and feeling slightly nauseous all of a sudden. It must have been the touch starvation or something, maybe he was stressed? How annoying.

"Haah? What the hell did you say? Don't you know that I'm working hard? That all of us are working hard?! You're not the only one, you know!" Tanaka snapped, leering at Kageyama with a slightly creepy look on his face. Kageyama flinched minutely and luckily for him, nobody noticed.

"Ooh, looks like the King's turning into a tyrant again," Tsukishima said absentmindedly. He didn't know that Kageyama was already stressed because he wore scent blocking spray, and was surprised when the Omega turned around instead of retorting, bowed at Tanaka, apologizing and saying that he knew, and walked straight out of the gym.

Nishinoya looked confused.

"Oi, Ryuu! Don't worry about it. He's probably just tired or stressed or something like that!" Noya said to Tanaka. He turned to Sugawara and told him, in a quieter tone of voice, that he was going to check up on his underclassman. He walked out of the gym.

**\----- ⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠**

As soon as Kageyama left the gym, he felt his heart beating fast and hard against his ribcage. He wiped the tears building up in his eyes away before they had a chance to fall, and started to walk quickly towards the club room to try to pack up his stuff.

 _I can't breathe, can I breathe? In, out, in, in, out, in, in, in, this isn't working. Is this a heart attack or something?_ Kageyama thought. At this point, his breaths were laboured and heavy, coming out in quick gasps. He tried to control his breathing, but was unsuccessful.

Kageyama made it to the club room, closed the door behind him, and slid down the wall, legs curled up under his chin. His hands were shaking. He tried to stop the tremors in his hands but that just resulted in his legs starting to tremble too.

His chest _hurt._ He felt chills run through his body but his palms were sweating. He shook his hands, trying to distract himself from the sensations wracking his exhausted body and the thoughts racing through his head.

_They don't want me, do they. Not anymore, not after that. Why did I do that? They're all going to leave, I wasn't good enough. I need to get better, I'm not good enough. They're going to leave me like my old pack did in middle school, they're going to leave. They hate me, they hate me. What if they leave, what will I do? What will I have? Who will be there for me besides my mom. She's not going to be here forever. I'll be all alone. I won't have a pack. My pack is going to leave me. My pack will hate me, I will be all alone._

The tears he'd been holding back finally overflowed, leaving his body with a trembling sob. He pulled at the collar of his shirt and rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them up. They were cold.

Once he started crying, he couldn't stop. The sobs flew out of his mouth, each one more harsh than the last. His hands were becoming numb, he couldn't feel them. He brought them up and pressed them against his chest.

"I'm so sorry, please don't leave," he sobbed to no one, moving his hands to press against his mouth, muffling his cries. An overwhelming feeling of _fear_ had taken over his body and he couldn't think of anything else other than how his shiny, new, wonderful pack would leave him just like his old one did. And it would be all his fault.

He was sure that if he didn't have such strong scent blocking spray, his distressed scent would be filling the room and leaking out under the crack of the door beside him.

He heard a creaking noise and looked around frantically, trying to see where the noise came from. Was someone there? Would they take advantage of him in his current state?

He tapped the heels of his hands against his head, still breathing heavily. He was so scared.

All of a sudden, the door creaked open, scaring Kageyama. He let out a terrified whimper and a sob, moving back into the corner, digging his fingernails into the sides of his thighs.

"Kageyama?" Noya poked his head into the room and saw his underclassman shaking in the corner.

Kageyama tried to stop crying, but that only resulted in him starting to hyperventilate again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Kageyama repeated, whispering the words like they were precious and fragile as glass.

"Hey, hey, bud. What's goin' on? I'm going to move closer, okay?" Noya said.

Kageyama didn't know what he wanted to do when he moved closer, but he hoped it wasn't something bad. He nodded.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Noya asked. When Kageyama didn't reply, he continued "Has this happened to you before?"

"N-no," Kageyama said through his tears, scared of what would happen and not knowing how he would calm down.

"Okay, _shh, shh,_ it's going to be okay. I'm here, I'm gonna take care of you. Lets take some deep breaths together, okay? Follow me."

Noya inhaled deeply and slowly, then exhaled, looking at Kageyama to see how he was doing.

Kageyama tried to take a breath along with his Alpha upperclassman, but ended up coughing between the first few shallow breaths he took.

"In through your nose and out through your mouth, okay? Just try to relax. Everything's okay, just keep breathing." Noya let out some of his Alpha pheromones to try and help Kageyama calm down. It helped.

As Kageyama kept trying his hardest to breathe in time with his upperclassman, Noya reassured him, "You're safe here, _shh,_ take some more deep breaths, okay? You're gonna be okay. This will pass soon."

Nishinoya took another deep breath in and out, encouraging Kageyama to do the same. He was starting to grasp more control over his breathing, but was still troubled by the tremors shaking through his body like an earthquake.

Nishinoya looked down and saw that Kageyama was still digging his fingernails into the skin of his legs. The indents were starting to bleed a little.

"It's okay, hey, lemme see your hands," Noya said in a gentle tone of voice, reaching out a little. Kageyama raised his hands slowly and Noya took them into his small ones, rubbing them, warming them up, "Ah, they're so cold. Keep breathing, that's it, in through your nose- and out through your mouth. Good, good."

Kageyama let out a small sob.

"...'m sorry."

"I know, I know. It's okay, _shh,_ you're safe, no need to apologize,"Noya whispered. He took a couple more deep breaths along with Kageyama to remind him to breathe.

As Kageyama started to calm down more, breaths evening out, Nishinoya started to pull away slowly.

"P-please don't leave," Kageyama gasped out, a couple stray tears leaked from his swollen eyes and he clutched at the hem of Nishinoya's shirt like it was his only lifeline.

" _Shh,_ I'm not leaving," Noya spoke up again, pointing at the basket of small, clean towels they kept for practices, "I'm just going to go over there to grab a towel, okay?"

Kageyama nodded, slumping back against the wall, too tired to do much else. Nishinoya came back over and sat next to him. He brought the towel up to Kageyama's face, wiping away the leftover tears and the sheen of sweat over his brow.

"Aish, I hope you feel better," Nishinoya said quietly.

Kageyama's eyes started to droop shut, "N'shinoya-san, m'sleepy."

"You're sleepy now, I know. You take a nap right here and your _senpai_ , me, I'll be here when you wake up, okay? It's safe here, don't worry. Just, I want you to be able to come talk to me, whenever you feel anxious, or anything like that. As your _senpai_ , friend, and your packmate, I just want to make sure you're okay."

Kageyama nodded sleepily and said, "Th'nk you, Noya-san."

"Alright, come here. You can lay on my shoulder. I'll text Daichi-san so that he knows you're here with me."

Kageyama scooted over and rested his head on his upperclassman's shoulder. His eyes slowly fluttered closed.

**\----- ⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠⚠**

  
__________________  
 **Daichi-san**

daichi-san, kageyama and i wont b coming back 2 practice.

hes sleeping.

_[delivered 4:52 PM]_

k, i need to know what happened. for his well-being. tell me later, pls.

_[recieved 4:55 PM]_

yea, ok.

_[delivered 4:55 PM]_

__________________

\-----

Nishinoya closed his phone and set it to the side.

He rested his head on top of his kouhai's.

 _I wonder what could have set him off like that? When things like that happen, usually he just brushes it off and continues on - after yelling at Tsukishima, of course. He has been acting weirdly, I said I would help Suga-san ask, so I won't ask by myself. Maybe today was a bad day? Maybe it's just me or is he getting worse?_ Noya thought. He was a little worried for his younger packmate.

\-----

When practice ended, Sawamura told the team to be quiet upon entering the club room.

"Why?" Ennoshita asked on the walk over there. He was sure that the rest of the team was also wondering.

"Kageyama's sleeping, and since Noya's there too, I'm guessing he's also asleep," Sawamura said.

"Hey! What? Why is he-?" Tanaka started to say.

"What!? That stupid Kageyama _slept_ through practice? _Kageyama?_ No way! He would never! I should tell him that I'm gon-" Hinata started to say - more like yell - before he was interrupted.

Sawamura was the one who interrupted. "Don't wake him up! I mean it, if anyone tries to-"

"Yes, Captain," the team chorused, clearly having gotten the message, not needing the threat.

Steam was practically coming out of Sawamura's ears as he ignored the fact that he was interrupted. A number of packmates recoiled from his angry, scary looking face.

They quickly arrived at the club room and Sawamura once again - reminded them to be quiet. As they opened the door, they didn't see Nishinoya or Kageyama anywhere, but when they entered the room, they saw the two boys curled up beside the doorframe.

"So cute!" Sugawara whispered with a dazzling smile on his face.

Yamaguchi looked closer and saw the tear tracks and red skin around Kageyama's eyes. His eyebrows furrowed in a worried frown. What had happened?

"Tadashi, why are you making that face? It's creeping me out. What's going on?" Tsukishima asked quietly.

"Ah, gomen, Tsukki. It, it's just that he looks like, y'know," the shy Alpha said, hoping his friend got the message.

"Looks like what?"

"Like he...cried?"

"What? The King, crying!? That is unheard of, I thought that he mustn't be able to feel emotions since he's so tyrannical," Tsukishima leered.

"Tsukki! Don't be rude, that crossed a line."

"Gomen, Yamaguchi. You know I care about him though. He's part of the pack. "

"Thanks, Tsukki. I know."

\------

Sugawara and Sawamura stayed after the rest of their team and pack mates left, along with Nishinoya and of course, Kageyama, who was still sleeping against Nishinoya, who was now awake.

"Kageyama-kun, Kageyama. Wake up, sleepy," Sugawara cooed softly.

Nishinoya ran a hand through Kageyama's sleek hair and rested it on his round head. Kageyama stirred slightly in his sleep. 

He was finally woken up when Sawamura placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him gently, saying, "Kageyama," in a quiet voice.

"H-huh?"

Kageyama sat up from his place against Nishinoya's shoulder and rubbed his eyes sleepily. 

"Kageyama," Nishinoya said, "We're in the club room right now. It's just me, Suga-san, and Daichi-san."

"Oh."

"U-um, what happened back there? Want to tell us why you were so upset?" Daichi asked.

Kageyama looked down towards the opposite corner of the room, avoiding eye contact.

"I don't want to say it," he said.

"Can we try and figure it out ourselves?" Sugawara asked, looking softly at the younger boy.

Kageyama nodded.

"'Kay, how 'bout we ask you yes or no questions and you can let us know if we were right or wrong?" Sugawara asked.

He nodded again.

"Okay. Was it something that Tsukishima said?" Daichi asked.

Kageyama nodded, then shrugged. It wasn't entirely because of what his fellow first year had said, but that _was_ part of the reason.

"Kind of?" Nishinoya asked him.

He nodded.

"Was it because of how you've been feeling lately? We noticed you seemed a little off in practice." Sugawara said.

The first year's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't wanted anyone to notice. He tentatively shook his head in the affirmative.

"Do you know why you've been feeling down?" Nishinoya asked.

Kageyama nodded.

"Do ya' wanna tell us?" he asked again.

He shook his head no.

"Is there a reason why you don't want to?"

Yes. He shook his head again. Sugawara felt him tense up slightly and released some calming Alpha pheromones that helped a little bit.

"Are you scared? You know that we would never judge you, right?" Sugawara said.

Kageyama spoke up for the first time in awhile, voice cracking near the end, "If I told you, you a-and the rest of the pack would l-leave me."

Tears of shame, embarrassment, and guilt filled his eyes. Why was it so hard for him to trust his packmates? He looked down again.

"Kageyama. Nobody in this pack would abandon you. Ever. Karasuno is different from your old pack, without a doubt. You know you can trust us, right?" Sawamura said.

"I know, but ah-I can't help buh-but think that y-you all will l-lea-leave," Kageyama said, tears starting to leak down his face. His breath hitched in his throat as he tried to hide that he was crying. Of course, this was impossible being in such close proximity with his older packmates.

"Aww, Kageyama. No need to cry, we're here. Nobody is going anywhere," Nishinoya said, pulling his packmate into a side hug.

Sugawara motioned for Nishinoya to pass Kageyama over in his direction, so he turned his younger teammate's shoulders towards the silver-haired Alpha. Kageyama gently leant his body on Sugawara's, who placed an arm around his shoulders. Daichi placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. 

" _Shh, shh,_ it's okay. You know you can come to us with anything and we won't judge you, right?" Sugawara said, stroking a hand through Kageyama's dark hair.

Kageyama brushed the tears from his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded.

 _I really need to stop crying in front of people_ , Kageyama told himself. To him, it seriously was embarrassing and made it hard for him to hide that he was an Omega. Especially when he was the center of attention. He also felt that it would draw too much suspicion to ask packmates to scent him while his mom was away on her months-long trip, which wasn't good for his health.

"Alright, good. Why don't you pack up the rest of your stuff. Suga and I can walk you home if you want. I think Nishinoya has to go straight home," Sawamura said.

Kageyama nodded.

When he was done packing up his stuff, Nishinoya had already left. Sawamura and Sugawara were waiting at the bottom of the stairs for him.

"Lead the way, Kageyama," Sugawara said with a smile.

\-----

When they reached Kageyama's house, he said goodbye to his senpais and made sure to lock the door behind him.

While he was comforted by their kind words, he didn't feel ready to tell them of his secondary gender yet, but he wished he was because the touch starvation was affecting him terribly and he didn't feel comfortable no matter what he did or how good of a nest he made.

Kageyama brushed his teeth, showered, and crawled into his messy nest, ignoring his growing headache. He knew it would be unlikely that he fell asleep so he grabbed his computer and watched volleyball videos on it, occasionally dozing off, only to wake up moments later.

It was going to be a long night for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so if you skipped the ⚠part⚠ its basically nishinoya helping kags through a panic/anxiety attack in the club room and kags falling asleep there afterwards.
> 
> hope you liked it! <333


	6. Are you going soft, Tsukki?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hehe cuddles :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiiiii sorry its been sosososoo long since i updated. school is kiLLinG me oh my gosh. anywaysss i hope yeh all like the chapter! also sorry i dont know why but this chap feels kinda short even though its almost the same length as or longer than the others. if i made any mistakes please let me know <3

The next morning, when Tobio woke up, he had almost no energy to get out of bed. His eyes were dry from when he cried earlier and from the lack of sleep. He was freezing and the pounding in his head was nearly intolerable. When he tried to roll over to turn off his alarm, his muscles were so tired and sore that he gave up and settled on waiting for his alarm to turn off by itself. Good thing it was Saturday.

He slowly lifted his hands to rub his swollen eyes. They were trembling and he was exhausted. This touch starvation was clearly too much for him. Tobio dragged his body out of his bed and slumped onto the floor, still entangled in his soft blankets. After he tugged a large, comfy pullover on over his head and stepped into a pair of loose sweatpants, Tobio sluggishly went to the washroom and brushed his teeth.

Tobio knew that it would be a good idea to call his sister at this point, but could not bring himself to dial her number and possibly disturb her day. 

_Maybe I should call someone from Karasuno_ , he thought as he shakily walked down the stairs.

Once he made his way down, Tobio went to the medicine cabinet in the kitchen and took a painkiller before he slumped onto the sofa in the living room and groaned in pure exhaustion. He wanted so badly to call someone from his team and demand that they come over and cuddle with him for fuck's sake, but he knew that if he bothered his packmates too much, they would not want to be around him. They would think he is too needy or that he didn't care about others, or just plain annoying. He turned and laid on his back, staring up at the ceiling before he massaged the temples of his aching head and threw an arm over his face, covering his eyes.

After a couple minutes resting on the couch, Tobio decided that he would call someone. This person was extremely kind, hardworking, and most importantly non-judgmental. He just hoped that the one he wanted to call was free and willing to come over because they had not talked much in the time they had known each other.

Tobio pulled his phone out from his pants' pocket and pressed the dial pad. He typed in the digits in his packmate's phone number before pressing call. The ringing of the phone made his head throb as it vibrated through the phone he held next to his ear.

_____

 _"U-um, hello?"_ The person on the other end of the phone said.

"Unh, yeah. Hi Yamaguchi," Tobio responded quietly. Even his own voice was too loud right now.

_"Oh, K-Kageyama! What's up?"_

"Would you, uh, mind co...actually, never mind, it's stupid..."

 _"It's not stupid, I promise I won't judge you. What do you need?"_ Yamaguchi asked. Always so kind.

"Can you, can you come over to m-my place? Please? If you're free, I mean. I can email you the address," Tobio said in a small, slightly hoarse voice.

_"Sure, no problem. I'll be there soon, okay?"_

"'Kay, th-thas-thank you, Yamaguchi."

_"Anytime. See you soon!_

_____

Tobio threw his phone onto the carpeted floor beside him, too tired to do anything else. He turned onto his side, pulled the blanket that was resting on the couch over his shivering body, and closed his eyes. He hoped that he got at least _some_ extra sleep in before Yamaguchi came.

After a couple minutes of dozing, Tobio was jolted out of his sleepy haze by a tentative knock on the door.

 _Oh shit,_ Tobio thought, I forgot to use my scent blocking spray. _It should be fine to go without it just this once, right?_

It was not fine _at all_. Tobio mustered up all his strength and energy and climbed up the flight of stairs to the second floor. He quickly sprayed on scent blocking spray all over himself, focusing on scent glands and places that get touched easily. After that, he made his way down the stairs, aware of the body standing past the doorframe. 

He unlatched the door and saw a familiar, freckled, friendly face. Yamaguchi was here. The tall Alpha smiled at Tobio gently.

"Hey, Kageyama! What did you need me to-"

Yamaguchi was cut off by the feeling of a hand tugging at the sleeve of his oversized tee shirt. He looked down to see that Tobio's hands were latched firmly onto his sleeve. Yamaguchi quickly slipped off his shoes. The raven-head was currently dragging Yamaguchi over to the couch. Yamaguchi was startled when the slightly taller boy made him sit down on the couch and was even more startled when he curled up next to him. Tobio watched Yamaguchi with wide, sparkling eyes, which Yamaguchi thought was adorable, but also insanely creepy.

"U-uh, Kageyama? Why are y-you looking at me like that?" Yamaguchi asked. He smiled nervously and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.

Tobio narrowed his eyes. How could he tell Yamaguchi what he wanted without being suspicious?

Yamaguchi recoiled. Tobio looked like he was going to murder him.

"Yamaguchi," Tobio said.

"Y-yeah!?" Yamaguchi squeaked.

"Lift up your arm. Uh, please."

Yamaguchi cautiously raised his right arm and rested it lightly on the back of the couch. He yelped in surprise when Tobio came crashing into his side. Tobio tucked himself tightly under his Alpha friend's arm and his inner Omega was practically in heaven. Finally, he was getting the physical attention he needed.

Tobio melted against Yamaguchi's side and breathed in his calming scent. It was nutty with undertones of brown sugar and cinnamon, slightly spicy. He felt Yamaguchi's body become less tense as he calmed down from Tobio's violent initiation of cuddling.

The two boys rested on the couch for what felt like a few more minutes before Yamaguchi asked, "So... what brought this on?"

"Mom's been away on a business trip for a couple weeks," Tobio mumbled, pressing his face into the side of Yamaguchi's stomach where he rested.

Yamaguchi was confused. Kageyama was not an Omega, so it was unlikely that his mom being away on a business trip could cause him to get touch starved. No other secondary gender could get touch starved in that amount of time, not even those who had not presented yet. Maybe Kageyama was lonely?

"Ah, so you were lonely? Don't you have a sister?"

"Uh, yeah, lonely. I was lonely. My sister doesn't live here with us anymore. She moved out for her work."

Yamaguchi nodded pensively. The two boys sat in a comfortable silence for a while and Tobio already felt that the pounding in his head had lessened. He was glad that Yamaguchi was free to come over and that he called on one of the rare days where Yamaguchi was not hanging out with Tsukishima.

All of a sudden, Yamaguchi's phone started to ring. Tobio jolted a little out of surprise.

"Oh, one second, Kageyama. I'll be right back," Yamaguchi said. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and moved to stand up, but a hand on his sleeve tugged him back down.

"No. Stay here."

"O-okay then," Yamaguchi said, He sat back down on the couch and pressed the answer button on his phone.

_____

 _"Tadashi,"_ the person on the other end of the phone said calmly.

"Oh! Tsukki, hi!"

Tobio scowled. It was Tsukishima.

_"Where are you? I walked over to your house but your mom said you left."_

"Ah, I'm at Kageyama's house."

 _"Huh? The King? Why?"_ Tsukishima asked.

Tobio winced at hearing Tsukishima refer to him as the king. He looked down at Yamaguchi's bright pink sock and curled further into his side. Yamaguchi noticed and looked down at Tobio with a concerned look.

 _He still thinks that I'm the King of the Court?_ Tobio thought.

"He was lonely. His mom's been away on a business trip for awhile."

 _"Oh, well I want to see you today,"_ Tsukishima deadpanned.

"Sorry, Tsukki! I'm kinda stuck here right now. I can ask Kageyama if you can come over here though," Yamaguchi said.

_"Ew, no I don't want to go to the King's house. Just come back. Please."_

Tobio heard what Tsukishima said and felt a little bit sad, but regardless of if he wanted to come or not, he was welcome to.

"He can come if he wants," Tobio mumbled into Yamaguchi's side.

"Tsukki! He said you can come, so come over. I'll send you the address! See you soon!"

 _"Hu-huh? Hey! Yamaguchi-"_ Tsukishima started to say.

Yamaguchi hung up with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Does Tsukishima hate me?" Tobio asked in a small voice, eyes still on Yamaguchi's brightly coloured sock.

Yamaguchi frowned slightly, "Kageyama, he doesn't hate you, I promise."

"How do you know?"

"Tsukki is my best friend. I've known him for so long, so I can just tell. He acts like he doesn't like you but he told me before that he cares about you."

"He cares? Really?" Tobio asked. He had an incredulous look on his face.

Yamaguchi nodded, "You're our packmate, of course he cares about you."

Tobio went silent, face pensive as he cuddled further into his packmate's side.

_____

There was a knock at the door. Tobio stood up, feeling a little more energized. Getting rid of his touch starvation completely would take a bit of time and a lot more cuddles. He opened the door. It was Tsukishima.

Tobio felt so nervous that he almost closed the door right in his blonde packmate's face.

Tobio stepped aside, allowing Tsukishima to come in.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Tsukishima mumbled, taking off his shoes and putting them to the side.

He followed Tobio to the living room where Yamaguchi was still sitting. 

"Oh! Hi, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi said.

Tsukishima nodded in response, smiling slightly at Yamaguchi.

Tobio took Tsukishima by the bottom of his shirt and sat him down next to Yamaguchi, with a space in the middle. Tsukishima's face was the picture of confusion.

Tobio sat down right in the middle of the two.

"King. What are you doing?" Tsukishima asked. Tobio lifted Tsukishima's arm up to what he thought was about the right height.

"King, what-?"

Tsukishima huffed as Tobio aggressively slammed his body into his side and started... cuddling him? Yamaguchi let out a little laugh at the sight of Tsukishima's confused face contrasting with Tobio's content one.

Tobio breathed in Tsukishima's strawberry-like scent and he heard Yamaguchi say, "Just let him do this, Tsukki. He obviously needs it."

"...Why?" Tsukishima asked.

Yamaguchi leaned over and whispered something Tobio could not hear into Tsukishima's ear.

"I do not!" Tsukishima retorted. Tobio was a little confused. What did Tsukishima not do?

"King. I thought I told you this before," Tsukishima said. Tobio looked up at the tall Beta.

"Told me what?"

"I don't hate you, okay? So stop being worried about that. It doesn't suit you."

Tobio's lips quirked up in the tiniest smile.

"Aww, Tsukki!" Yamaguchi said, laughing. "Are you going soft, Tsukki?"

"Shut up, Yamaguchi, n-no way!" Tsukishima spluttered.

Tobio tugged on Tsukishima's shirt again from where he lay, pressed against his side and nudged Yamaguchi's pink sock clad foot with his own.

"What, King?" Tsukishima asked.

"Thank you, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi," Kageyama said. The words _for not hating me and for staying_ went unsaid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THank you for reading! <3


	7. cuddle the tiredness out of you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ok so im fiNALLY moving on w the plot teeheehee  
> its been a short time since i last updated but ive had this chapter ready for a couple days, so i thought oh well why not post it now  
> pleeeease lmk if theres any mistakessss  
> soooo:  
> Lets pretend that the 1st training camp (w fukurodani nekoma ubugawa shinzen) in s2 of hq was in the summer for two weeks and spoiler alert for ppl who didnt read this far or watch season 2 of the anime: lets pretend that tangerine and tobio dont fight yet im not ready to write that :")

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gUESS WHAT THIS CHAPTER IS OVER 2000 WORDs not that it matters but its the longest chapter hehe  
> hopefully its not boring!   
> <333

A few weeks later, things were going really well for Tobio. His mom was home, he was not touch starved anymore, and overall, he was just happy. The only thing weighing on his mind were exams. If he did not pass all of them, he could not go to the summer training camp in Tokyo with his pack because supplementary exams were the exact same day as the pack was leaving. 

His mom did her best to help him study, but she had forgotten a lot of material that she learned in high school. Tobio and Hinata had literally _begged_ Tsukishima to help them study, and Tsukishima, the mean beanpole, only agreed to help them study for an hour after school. That was not enough time!

In one of their study sessions where the boys were studying literature, Hinata, being the dumbass he is, hit the ogre in the eyes with an iron club! Yamaguchi was scandalized and said a pained, "Ow, my eyes!" pretending to be the poor ogre. Even Tobio knew that was not the right answer to the question. Tsukishima was so done.

Exams were the next day, and Tobio was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was unable to fall asleep with all his anxiety about how the next day's exams would be. His slightly distressed scent diffused throughout the room, but did not get strong enough to make his mother worried.

Tobio woke up the next morning, sprayed on his scent blocking spray, and went to school. He sat in front of his desk in the first class of the day, waiting for the first test papers to be handed out. The teacher went around, passing the papers to the students, and after all the papers were given out, the teacher said to start.

Fuck, the test looked hard.

A couple weeks after that, Tobio and the other students got their test results back and he had passed all his exams - except one. He would have to take the supplementary exam on the day the team was leaving for the training camp. Luckily for him, Tanaka knew someone that could pick him and Hinata - who had also failed one exam - up and drive them to Tokyo.

After the supplementary exams, the person Tanaka knew - who turned out to be his sister, Tanaka Saeko, or Saeko nee-san, as she wanted to be called - picked Hinata and Tobio up. She had hair as vibrant as the sun and her false-eyelash clad eyes sparkled with fiery intensity. It was quite endearing how her sharp grin reminded Tobio of Tanaka-san and a feral shark, in the best way. Her driving was absolutely atrocious, though. Hinata and Tobio had gotten slammed into what felt like every square inch of the car before they turned onto the highway. It was relatively smooth sailing from there. Tobio fell asleep easily in the car, and luckily for him, he could lie in the back seat. Hinata sat up front with the blonde woman and Tobio was hoping from the bottom of his heart that Hinata would not vomit.

Saeko nee-san's car skidded into the parking lot and finally, they had arrived at the training camp. She dropped them off at the entrance to the gym and Tobio was in awe. There were so many people there. He could see Fukurodani, Nekoma, Shinzen, and Ubugawa, but where was Karasuno?

Saeko nee-san stepped into the gym, "Oh, looks like they're still at it!"

From behind her, Tobio heard Nishinoya say, "Nee-san!" in a sparkly tone of voice. Tobio peeked around Saeko. Nishinoya was standing with Sugawara and Azumane.

Hinata and Tobio stood next to each other, as they fully pushed open the doors to the gym. The sun was starting to set outside and a golden glow washed over everything in the gym, illuminating it beautifully.

Soon enough, Karasuno was in another practice game against Shinzen High, and Tobio and Hinata finally got to play. Tobio set a fast ball to Hinata, who hit it onto the court. It slammed down with a noise that reverberated around the whole gym.

Tobio could tell that the other teams were getting worked up over their fast quick attack. Karasuno had finally won a set against another school and Tobio felt a sick sense of satisfaction watching the other team do flying falls around the court.

.....

Training camp was going really well. Everyone in Karasuno was working hard to improve and grow, even Tsukishima. About a million of their plays failed in actual practice games, but despite that, Tobio could see that their team was evolving.

The only problems were getting away from everyone there to spray on his scent blocking spray, and that he was fucking getting touch starved - again - after a week and a half of not being scent marked or cuddled. Fuck this Omega business, Tobio was _not_ having it. There were only mild symptoms though, as Tobio got his fair share of cuddles and scent marking before he left for Tokyo.

He only experienced a slight pounding in his head and it was a little hard for him to sleep. Only another - extremely perceptive - Omega, or someone who knew a lot about Omegas and payed attention to him a lot, would notice his behaviour. Luckily, there was nobody like that at this training camp, or at least Tobio thought so.

.....

"Excuse me," Akaashi said, walking up to Sugawara. The pretty, black haired Omega had an elegant air surrounding him as he strolled over to where the grey haired Alpha sat alone.

"Oh, Akaashi-kun! What's up?" Sugawara said.

"I noticed that the Omega on your team was becoming touch starved. It seems like he gets touch starved easily, seeing as it has only been a week and a half since this training camp started."

"Ehh?! But Noya is literally always attached to Asahi and makes sure he doesn't get touch starved."

Akaashi's expression betrayed nothing about how he was feeling or what he was thinking. Sugawara was extremely confused. The team took such good care to make sure the only Omega on their team - that they knew about - did not become touch starved. How would Akaashi notice? It was true that he was very observant, but Sugawara did not think he could be _this_ observant.

"I am not talking about him. I think. What is his jersey number?" Akaashi asked.

"Asahi is number three."

"Oh, yes, I was not talking about him." 

Akaashi presumed that all of Karasuno already knew about Tobio being an Omega, seeing as he could tell himself. Even though Tobio wore scent blocking spray, Akaashi could recognize many distinct and subtle Omega-like behaviours, such as his persistent, apparent headache that had not been there when camp had started, the slight shadows beneath his eyes that grew each day, and the fact that he had an extremely soft blanket on his futon (that one was just an observation, everyone loves fluffy blankets, Akaashi knew that).

Sugawara was trying to think of anyone else that was an Omega and his brain could not come up with an answer. There was no one else on the team that was an Omega, maybe Akaashi was getting confused with another team? That was unlikely though, seeing as the Fukurodani Group in Tokyo had training camps together often and everyone was pretty familiar with everyone, even if they were from another school.

"Who are you talking about then?"

"That number nine, first-year setter, what was his name? Ah, right, Kageyama-kun."

"Kageyama-kun hasn't presented yet though," Sugawara said.

Akaashi's face still did not show any obvious expression, but if anything, it looked like he was thinking.

"Ah, my bad. I just presumed he was an Omega based on his behaviours and what I know to be symptoms of touch starvation. It seems that he uses some sort of scent blocking product, though."

Sugawara's eyebrows raised up into his hairline. 

"Even if Kageyama wasn't a touch starved Omega, do you think we should try cuddling him anyways? Just in case?" Sugawara asked the Omega.

"Yes, that would be the best course of action. As you probably know, if touch starvation gets severe enough, it can be tiring, irritating, and painful for the person affected. If your first-year setter happens to be getting touch starved, Omega or not, it is in your best interests to help him before it gets painful," Akaashi said.

Sugawara nodded and a dazzling smile stretched across his face.

"Thanks, Akaashi-kun!"

Akaashi bowed slightly, saying goodbye, then walked away, probably to his own team's room because it was getting close to curfew.

.....

On his way back to Karasuno's shared room, Sugawara was lost in thought.

 _Is that why Kageyama had been acting strange a couple weeks ago? Maybe that's why he was so tired. Why wouldn't he tell the pack if he was an Omega? It would have been so much easier to prevent him from getting touch starved if he was an Omega,_ he thought, _I won't ask him about it... if he hasn't told us, there must be a reason why. I'll wait for him to come to the pack about it. He might not be an Omega at all, and Akaashi had just assumed wrong._

Sugawara pushed open the door to the room, happily greeting the few people relaxing in there with a smile. He walked over to his futon and sat down with a sigh, wrapping himself in his soft blanket. The comforting scent of the pack surrounded him and put him at ease. He checked the notifications on his phone and replied to an email from his mom, who had asked how he and the pack were doing.

Suddenly, the door creaked open and in walked Tobio. The tall first-year gently ruffled his damp hair with a towel, drying it to the best of his ability. Sugawara saw that there was more of a shadow beneath his eyes than usual.

"Oi, Kageyama-kun!" He called, waving the surprised boy over in his direction. Tobio walked over at a languid pace. The older boy was wearing a shirt that had the word 'potato' on it, which was kind of strange, but somehow matched his eclectic energy.

"Come sit," Sugawara said. He patted the spot on his futon that was next to where he was sitting. 

Tobio sat down stiffly before Sugawara raised one of his arms and pulled Tobio into the warmth of his blanket. He hugged the first year close. Tobio breathed in the sharp yet peaceful, clean linen and cherry blossoms. It was quite sweet for an Alpha, but not unpleasant. Sugawara pulled him onto his lap, and despite Tobio being quite a bit taller, he fit perfectly and naturally there. Tobio's head was pulled down into the crook of Sugawara's neck before Sugawara shifted both of them so the scent glands on their necks were pressed together.

_Was Sugawara...scent marking him? Why?_

"Uh, Sugawara-san? What are you doing?" Tobio asked.

He felt the rumble of Sugawara's throat against his neck as he spoke with an air of nonchalance, "Scent marking you."

"Why?" Tobio asked. Not that Tobio was not happy about that, he was just curious. 

"I dunno, you looked kinda tired and I thought, 'Oh, well why not cuddle the tiredness out of you'!" Sugawara laughed and it rumbled in his chest which was pressed together with Tobio's in the position they were in.

Tobio thought that reason sounded legitimate and relaxed, melting onto Sugawara. His head was tucked comfortably into Sugawara's neck. It was so warm, it made Tobio sleepy after their long day of practice matches and not being able to sleep well the last couple nights. 

One of Sugawara's hands stroked the back of his head while the other one was not making contact with Tobio at all, most likely being used to scroll through his phone. Tobio felt his heart rate slow down as he relaxed further into the embrace, eventually succumbing to the pull of sleep.

.....

Sugawara was so giddy. One of his first-year baby crows was sleeping on his shoulder - and he was one of the more withdrawn ones too! He felt like a mother, and honestly, he did not hate it. As more of the members of the pack trickled into the room, some of them looked questioningly at Sugawara and Tobio. Most of the pack - excluding Nishinoya, Sawamura, Tsukishima, and Yamaguchi - had never seen Tobio look so vulnerable.

When Hinata came in, Ennoshita had to hold a hand over his mouth before he squealed and exploded due to the pure cuteness of the scene in front of him. They did not want to wake Tobio up. Hinata had flitted about, scurrying quietly around Sugawara, trying to catch a glimpse of Tobio's face. Once he had succeeded in his 'mission', Hinata gently patted Tobio on the head and bounded over to his own futon, messing up his blankets as he plopped down. His futon was right next to Tobio's.

When it was a few minutes until the students were supposed to be going to sleep, Sugawara stood up, with Tobio's legs around his waist and arms hooked around the back of his neck. He was deceptively thin, but was really quite strong. The Alpha carried Tobio back to his futon and laid him down gently, wrapping him in his fluffy blanket like a burrito.

Tobio stirred slightly in his sleep and blinked open his eyes. He relished in the warmth of his blankets and looked towards Sugawara's back as he made his way towards his own futon.

His teammates cared about him. He was so _lucky_.

Tobio once again let go of his consciousness and let himself get lulled into the world of dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i miiiiight edit this later hehe :)  
> tysm for reading omgggg <333


	8. Have you been hanging around an Omega?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this in one night and didn tedit it, pleeease lmk if something is bad!!  
> thanks for reaing! <333

Hinata watched as the volleyball stopped bouncing on the floor and stared at Tobio with a confused look on his face, "Eh? Kageyama, what's wrong? Are you sleepy, Tiredyama-kun?"

It was around three weeks after the training camp and school had started up after summer break at the beginning of that week. After being scent marked and cuddled by Sugawara, Tobio could not help but want that to happen again. It was true that his inner Omega _needed_ the touch once in awhile, but it is not like he has been suffering from a lack of cuddles at home, so he was not touch starved. Recently, Tobio just wanted more affection and he did not mind what member of the pack he cuddled with. 

He did not know why he had been wanting more touch, but blamed it on Omega instincts and mentality. It could be his inner Omega trying to force him to get closer to his pack, not that he would mind getting closer to his pack, but it would be harder to hide his Omega secondary gender if the others started wondering what the reason was behind his behaviour.

Right now, Hinata and Tobio were practicing their quick after practice, trying hard to perfect it. Tobio had just zoned out for the eleventh time in ten minutes, and when Hinata threw the ball up for him to set, he got hit in the head.

"Shut up, dumbass. I'm not tired," Tobio insisted.

"You _totally_ are, Yamayama-kun! That was like, the millionth time the ball hit you on your head!" Hinata said, laughing, "Say, Kageyama, are you starting to suck at volleyball?"

"Fuck you! Of course not! Again, dumbass."

Hinata threw the ball up in an arc over Tobio's head after a couple complaints of, "So vulgar, Kageyama!"

As he rushed by, doing a fast approach, his citrusy scent wafted past Tobio's nose. Tobio resisted the urge to tell Hinata to stop moving as the scent of his packmate made him long for touch even _more_. Damn these Omega instincts, he was not even touch starved for goodness' sake. He shook his head to refocus on the quick attack, letting a deep breath out.

The ball fell lower and lower. Tobio got right under it, jumped, and looked at where Hinata's palm would be. Target acquired. He pushed with his arms, putting a precise amount of force on the blue and yellow ball. It spun, stopping right on the mark, and _bam!_ The ball slammed into the floor and ricocheted off, bouncing slightly against the floor once again before rolling to a stop. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Tobio saw Hinata's face as he spiked the ball, It looked like he was feeling a true sense of euphoria and pure joy. Tobio was happy that he could help someone feel like that, and was also happy that their attack succeeded.

"Yes!" Hinata and Tobio cheered in unison.

After a couple more like that, with some zoning out from Tobio, Hinata decided that they should stop. The setter was zoning out even more than before and the short Alpha was starting to get concerned and slightly annoyed. Was he not worth paying attention to? Hinata knew he was not the best player - at the moment - but he was definitely not the _worst._

He concluded that Tobio must just be tired.

Hinata shoved Tobio's shoulder lightly to get his attention after he spaced out again, "Oi, Kageyama. Time to clean up now, okay? You are _definitely_ tired if you can't pay attention to playing volleyball."

Tobio pouted and wrinkled his forehead, but nodded his head as an affirmative answer.

.....

Tobio noticed that the urges he had been feeling were only growing stronger as time passed. They caused him to not pay attention as well in class as well as in volleyball practice. 

Right now, it was six thirty in the morning. Tobio was lying in his bed when he was supposed to be getting ready for school, and he simply could not stop thinking about what it would be like to have pack members like Hinata or Sawamura scent him. Hinata's scent, reminiscent of a citrus fruit, was like a cold drink in the summertime, refreshing. Sawamura had a deep, smooth scent. Inhaling the sandalwood and earthy patchouli scent had Tobio so grounded and calm, it was as if he could not make any impulsive decisions. Ennoshita's scent too, was understated and calming. Sweet peppermint with woody and citrusy eucalyptus blended to create a mild scent, not very strong as Ennoshita was a Beta, but it was still wonderful.

Tobio looked over at the clock again. It was six fifty. He had spent twenty minutes thinking about his packmates' scents, what the actual fuck. Rolling out of bed, he dragged his feet to the dresser across the room. As his finger pressed down on the spray nozzle of his scent-blocking spray bottle, he felt a thin coating of cool mist settle over where he directed the flow. He sprayed some over the scent glands his neck and on his wrists. Now Tobio most likely did _not_ spray on as thick of a coating as he usually does and should have done, but he was going to be late to school if he did not get moving promptly.

He quickly pulled on his uniform, stuffed his scent blocking spray in his bag, and exited his room. His hand slid down the banister as he hurried down the stairs and out the door, giving his mother a kiss on the cheek before he left.

There was only about six and a half hours before Tobio could go to practice and he already could not wait. The day passed as usual, with Tobio sleeping through at least twenty-five minutes of each class and desperately trying to take down the notes on the board before they were wiped away. His success rate with that was just less than fifty percent, but he was relatively satisfied with the notes he took, although they made absolutely no sense to him. 

Tobio ate lunch by himself in his classroom until Hinata burst in and demanded that he come outside. It was still hot out, as it was only the beginning of September, and Tobio felt like he was withering under the harsh glare of the sun. The light was beating down on his back and causing a light sheen of sweat to form on his forehead, nose, and neck - all of which he quickly wiped away. 

The rest of the day went by almost the exact same way the first half had gone, and finally, Tobio heard the bell ring. He sprung up from his chair as soon as it was acceptable to leave his class, and walked briskly to the club room to get changed. As per usual, Tobio was the first one there. He removed his uniform shirt that he wore during the school day and pulled his gym shirt over his head. The fluffy, black hair at the top of his head got puffed up a little by the static from his gym shirt. Tobio pulled on a pair of shorts and his beige sweater before exiting the club room and making his way to the gym.

Once he was there, Tobio performed the various warm up stretches that he had memorized through practice and routine. Practice did not officially start until three-thirty-five, which was in about twenty minutes. He briefly practiced some passing and setting drills against the wall before moving to one of the open courts to practice his serve. Soon, more club members were starting to show up, some of which included Sugawara and Yamaguchi who - most notably - gave him a head pat and a little hair ruffle as they made their way to the cart of volleyballs, which was behind him. Kinoshita and Ennoshita gave him a smile as they walked into the gym about two minutes before practice officially started, before moving on to do their stretches. When Tsukishima came in alongside Yamaguchi, Tobio got a _nod of acknowledgement_ , which was honestly a big thing coming from _Tsukishima_ , so he was happy.

Coach Ukai arrived shortly and after that, practice officially started. It was grueling and tiring. Tobio was sweating buckets, and so were the other boys on the team. Tsukishima looked particularly annoyed, practically dead on his feet, around three-quarters of the way into practice. Meanwhile, Hinata, Nishinoya, and Tanaka seemed to have boundless energy although rivulets of sweat ran down their necks. The Omega still thought practice was fun though. It was volleyball, so of course it was fun.

During practice, Tobio did not notice his own, light, vanilla and cream scent start to bypass his scent blocking spray. They were outside, about to head out for a run up Heartbreak Hill, but were taking a short stop for water outside the gym.

"Hey, Kageyama!" Tobio heard Tanaka yell in his direction. He looked up with a questioning look. "Have you been hanging around an Omega? Maybe one of the girls in your class?"

Tobio was confused now. Why did Tanaka think that he was spending time with an Omega, all of a sudden?

"Huh?"

"Don't try to hide it, I can smell it on you!" Tanaka said.

"Wait, but I haven-"

"So... Is she cute? What's her name?" Tanaka asked. It was assumed that usually, Omegas were females because the population of male Omegas was significantly lower than female ones.

"What do you mean you can smell it on me?" Tobio was starting to become nervous. Could Tanaka smell his scent?

"I can smell it too," Nishinoya said, "It's like this sort of... how do I explain it, vanilla-y scent?"

 _Shoot,_ Tobio thought, _that's what my scent smells like. I need to go reapply my scent blocking spray. Did I not apply enough this morning? It should have lasted._

"Yeah!" Tanaka agreed.

"Yeah, it's super sweet! I can't believe I'm only noticing it now! It's like a cupcake or something, I don't know - now I'm hungry!" Hinata whined. Tobio scowled. First of all, his scent did _not_ smell like a cupcake, that was far too heavy of a smell to be associated with his own. Second of all, he was also hungry and could really go for a curry bun from the Sakanoshita Store right about now.

"Mm," Yamaguchi piped up, "Is she nice, Kageyama? It smells yummy." 

Tsukishima did not look too impressed with that statement and Yamaguchi wrapped his arm around the Beta's waist. Deep down, Tsukishima thought it smelled quite decent. Sawamura nodded, humming absentmindedly as he talked to Shimizu about whatever was written on the clipboard she was holding. Kinoshita and Narita did not seem to be paying attention to the commotion going on around Tobio, though, so that was one positive thing.

"Uh, sorry, I just have to go for a minute," Tobio said, slowly backing up in the opposite direction. Although he was glad his packmates did not hate his scent, Tobio did not want them to know he was an Omega.

.....

Sugawara jumped slightly as he felt someone bump into him from the back. He turned around to see a slightly flushed Tobio.

"Ah, sorry, Sugawara-senpai. I just need to go for a second-" Tobio started to say before heading in the direction of the club room.

The silver haired Alpha was about to ask why, when he smelt it. A mellow scent, reminiscent of vanilla-cream or something similar, wafted gently through the air and it seemed to be emanating from- _oh_. 

_So Kageyama is an Omega then,_ Sugawara thought, _just like Akaashi-kun said. I wonder how I didn't notice this sooner. Or maybe Kageyama just has a close Omega friend, though I haven't really seen him hang out with anyone besides Hinata, Yamaguchi, and Tsukishima - on the rare occasion - at school._

He watched as his tall kouhai threw open the club room's door retreated back in there.

"Geez," Tanaka said from behind Sugawara, "Maybe he wants to keep his Omega to himself, then."

"Posessive, eh?" Nishinoya laughed good-naturedly, swigging some of the water in his water bottle.

.....

 _Fuck, fuck,_ Tobio thought, _good thing Sugawara-senpai didn't stop me. And Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san didn't seem to notice that the scent was mine. No one else did either. It's fine, it's fine._

He was panting with exertion from running to the club room as he fumbled with his bag, reaching his arm inside and pulling out the spray. The bottle rattled as he shook it before he sprayed it onto his scent glands on his neck and wrists excessively. It was a shoddy job, but it would have to do until he got home.

Tobio let his breathing calm down a little bit before taking a drink from his water bottle. It would do no good to freak out now. He sprayed one more layer of the spray on, just in case, before he opened the club room door and ran out to meet his team.

"Oi, Yamayama-kun! Where'd you go?" Hinata asked.

Tobio's mind blanked. What excuse would he make? "Uh, I just forgot something in the club room."

 _Crap, that was a terrible lie,_ Tobio thought.

Hinata seemed to believe him though, and just kept skipping along, following the rest of the team. He was singing some strange song about running and how he was somehow going to be the best, but nobody paid any mind to it. It was just a normal Hinata thing.

Tobio let out a gentle sigh before following the rest of the pack. He was lucky. His secret was safe for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: hello peoples!! i havent updated this in a hot minute but i promes i am working on the next chap!!! school has been DiSgUsTiNgLy disgusting ykyk  
> ne ways ehehe i hope that you will stick with this fic (LmAO THAT RHYMEs) and ill update as sOON as i can!!!  
> <333


	9. a mess like him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> karasuno vs. aoba johsai practice match  
> tobio tries to apologize to kindaichi and kunimi (again - he had already tried one time before, just gotta let y'all know that)  
> things don' t go smoothly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY UPDATED THIS  
> this chapter is very eventful  
> thank you for sticking with thsi story!!

Tobio was sitting in his nest. It was currently Friday and he was _not_ looking forward to next Tuesday. In fact, he was absolutely dreading it. It was not because he had a quiz for one of his classes, but at the end of practice the night before, the team had been told they had a practice match. Usually, Tobio would have been excited for a practice match, very much so, but the problem with this game was that it was against the number four school in the prefecture, Aoba Johsai.

Aoba Johsai, nicknamed Seijoh, was where Tobio's previous teammates went, the ones who abandoned him - rightfully so, in his opinion. The last time Tobio tried to apologize to Kindaichi and Kunimi was in middle school, but he was met with rejection, which - in all honesty - hurt him quite a bit. According to Kindaichi, they were never friends in the first place, which did not make sense to Tobio. In their first year, they had been pretty close and Tobio and Kunimi would usually go over to Kindaichi's house after practice. After Tobio tried to apologize for the way he acted in his second and third year of middle school, he was left wondering if that was all in his head and if the other two boys had hated him all along. Just the thought left his heart clenching painfully in his chest.

He was looking forward to playing volleyball, but not to encountering former teammates like the aforementioned, Kindaichi and Kunimi, but also Oikawa, who hated him with a vengeance. Iwaizumi was always nice to him in his first year, a little scary with the way he yelled at Oikawa, but still nice to Tobio, so Tobio did not mind seeing him.

In the days after that practice, Tobio had a harder time concentrating in school, on his homework, and at volleyball practice. He was almost _never_ not able to pay attention in practice. He tried to convince himself that this practice match coming up was not a big deal, and that he was working himself up for nothing, but that did not stop him from almost working himself into a minor Omega drop on Monday night.

That night, Tobio had been watching volleyball videos on his computer, having finished - most of - his homework, sitting in his haphazard nest. It was part of his routine and had never been a problem before, but before Tobio realized it, he started to think about the upcoming practice match. Would Kindaichi talk to him? Would Kunimi? Would they make fun of him and call him King? What about Oikawa? Tobio did not think he could handle it if any one of them antagonized him. Would his current packmates and teammates hate him when they realized that he was truly a weak, bad Omega? They might leave him, like his teammates at Kitagawa Daiichi did, like his elementa. He could not get too worked up about it. He should be used to it by now and should expect it. Nobody _liked_ him, anyways. Little, unlovable, annoying, bratty, mean, harsh, _King,_ Tobio.

In his haze, Tobio did not notice his pleasant, vanilla scent start to sour and smell burnt. He was too lost in his thoughts. Vaguely, he noticed something wet running down his face before his surroundings became blurred and whited out gently.

The next thing he knew, his mother was right next to him, rubbing the scent gland on her wrist against one of the ones on the side of his neck. She was whispering something to him, Tobio could not make out exactly what she said. Every once in awhile, she would run a hand through his hair, trying to help him become more aware of what was happening.

"M-Mom? What happened?" Tobio asked. His mother's face looked worried and he did not know _why_. He did not want her to be worried, she did not deserve that.

"You had a drop, Tobio. Are you anxious about something? I could smell it in your scent when you came home, but I didn't want to ask in case you didn't want to talk about it."

Tobio's eyes widened. He had not experienced an Omega drop in the longest time. While it happened frequently in middle school, he had not had a single one since joining Karasuno.

"We have a practice game against Seijoh tomorrow. Don't really wanna talk about it though," Tobio frowned and rolled over in his messy nest he had built out of stress.

"Okay, then make sure to talk to your pack about how you feel soon, just in case. I don't want you dropping again, Tobio. That scared me. If you ever feel scared or sad about something that much, you can come cuddle or talk with me if you want to, okay?"

Tobio nodded, staying silent. He did not really want to talk right now, and would rather be alone. As if somehow sensing that, his mother said, "Alright, I'll go now. I love you."

She stood up after giving him a peck on the forehead and closed the door behind her when she left the room.

.....

When Tobio woke up the next day, he felt drained. Great, _perfect_ for Karasuno's practice match against Seijoh. He almost gave up on getting out of bed and going to school, but pushed through and ended up practically dragging himself out the door with sheer willpower. 

Tobio felt anxious all day and he hoped that it didn't show on his face. He was also pretty sure that he had failed his quiz he had in one of his classes. Every time he peacefully spaced out in the middle of class, his traitorous brain kept reminding him that he would have to see his middle school teammates that very afternoon. In a way, his brain was being helpful, although it made him more nervous, because since Tobio didn't want to be reminded of the practice match, he held off on his usual zoning out. Surprisingly, he had actually written down decent notes for most of the lesson instead of his usual, disorganized, fragmented notes.

The bus ride to Seijoh was _disastrous_ to say the least. It was fairly loud, and Hinata had thrown-up on Tanaka-san's lap. When the team arrived at the other high school, they got off the bus and Tobio noticed Hinata running off somewhere, probably to the washroom. He almost wanted to beat some sense into him because _maybe_ that might work, but Sugawara and Tanaka held him back. While Hinata was gone, probably already inside, the rest of the team walked at a slower pace towards where they were supposed to enter.

"...ightless crows, I think that's what Karasuno is called - and I heard they've got some sort of a riff-raff kind of guy there too," the team heard a voice say from around the corner.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's bald and looks kinda stupid, y'know? Doesn't that one guy go there? I think he was called, like, the King of the Court of something like that. Didn't you two go to the same middle school, Kindaichi?"

"Oh yeah, Kageyama? He was way too much of a dictator, always yelling at us for things that didn't even matter."

Tobio could see Tanaka's face darkening as the voices kept going on about Karasuno, Tanaka, and Tobio. He jumped slightly when Tanaka darted past him to peek around the corner, but quickly followed along behind him with Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. Tobio stuck closely to Yamaguchi who was followed by Tsukishima. The freckled Alpha thew an arm over Tobio's shoulder as if he sensed his nervousness.

"Hmm...? Don't underestimate us too much," Tobio heard Tanaka say. He could picture the mental image of Tanaka's 'intimidation face'.

 _Yes,_ Tobio thought, _don't underestimate us. We will win. We will beat you. I will show you all that I'm not the King anymore._

"Or we'll eat you alive," Tanaka continued, scrunching his face up into an even more terrifying expression. Tobio could practically feel Tsukishima smirking from where he stood behind Tobio, Yamaguchi, and Tanaka. Tobio himself smirked when he saw Kindaichi and that other Seijoh boy shiver in fear.

Tsukishima stepped slightly forward and Tobio could see that he was - in fact - smirking. "You shouldn't say things like that, Tanaka-san," the tall Beta said, waving his hand with an air of nonchalance and superiority about him. Tsukishima's smirk grew as he said, "Look what you did. You've scared these poor elites. Now I feel sorry for them."

"L-like hell we're scared!" Kindaichi retorted, bristling with annoyance (and fear, but he wasn't going to admit that).

"Ah, yeah. You're right, Tsukishima. Gotta limit the bullying to the match, right?" Tanaka said.

As if he was summoned, Sawamura came sprinting around the corner with some of the other pack members following behind him, and smacked a hand down onto Tanaka's head. 

"You guys! I can't take my eyes off you for a second, I swear! I'm so sorry about this," the captain said, bowing and pushing Tanaka down to bow along with him. "Let's go."

Before Tobio could walk away along with the rest of the team, Kindaichi called out to him, "Long time no see, King."

Tobio could have sworn his heart stopped in his chest. His palms were sweaty and his hands were trembling the slightest bit. He hadn't seen Kindaichi in a while, that was true, and felt guilty for how he treated him and the rest of his middle school team. He also didn't want to be ridiculed like how he was when the team at Kitagawa Daiichi gave up on him or when his elementary school made fun of him for being an Omega.

"Can't wait to see what kind of dictatorship you're running now," Kindaichi continued. He stared at his shoes and how they stood on the pavement. Out of the corner of his eye, Tobio saw Tanaka ready himself to punch Kindaichi, but Sawamura held him back by the collar of his team jacket.

Tobio didn't turn around, but looked back up, "Yeah."

He kept walking towards where the rest of his team was standing. When he reached them, he was promptly smacked on the back by Sugawara and Tanaka.

Karasuno quickly kept walking and on their way to the gym, they heard murmurs of, _the flightless crows_ , and _fallen champions._ Still, they held their heads high with pride. They almost looked like a murder of crows as they walked in the direction of the gym.

Now, they were all in the gym and wearing red practice match jerseys. Hinata looked terrified and Tobio could almost see his face turning blue as he shouted about "trying his best to relax" or something like that at the captain. When both teams lined up, Tobio could feel the orange-haired Alpha shaking next to him and could see the tips of his hair trembling out of the corner of his eye.

Throughout the first set of the match, Hinata was played absolutely atrociously. He was flailing about, stumbled in front of Sawamura to poorly recieve a ball, crashed into Tanaka, nearly collided with Tobio, and knocked over the referee stand. Later in the game, he served a ball into Tobio's head.

Immediately after that, Tanaka and Tsukishima started laughing, and in his appalled haze, Tobio could hear Sugawara screaming at them to _not add fuel to the fire,_ whatever that meant. He approached Hinata slowly, watching as the other boy trembled.

"W-w-wait, K-kageyama. Let's j-just talk it o-out, o-o-okay?"

Tobio stopped right in front of the shorter boy, looming over him like a great, towering shadow. "You know..."

"Yes!" Hinata squeaked out with a scrunched up expression on his face. Tobio privately thought it made him look like a mole rat, but didn't comment on it.

"What are you so afraid of? Is it that the players are tall? Or because the gym is so big? Or maybe because it's your first practice match?"

Tobio slowly brought a hand up to the back of his head and smacked his hand down onto his aching skull. It hurt, but he wasn't about to admit that.

"Is there anything scarier than hitting a serve into the back of my head? What is it?"

"N-no, I can' t-t-think of anything worse."

The Omega brought repeatedly slammed his hand down onto the back of his head, slowly, and glared down at Hinata, "So, there's nothing for you to be scared of then. Is there? I mean - you've already gone and done the worst thing possible...so, get back to normal, you dumbass!"

The set after that, after an inspiring speech from Tanaka, Tobio and Hinata were successfully slamming down quicks left and right. Hinata was being a great decoy, making some mistakes, but everyone else covered for him. He gave other spikers a chance to hit the ball freely.

Karasuno won the second set.

Oikawa arrived just before the third set, and called out to Tobio, teasing him. Tobio tried his best to ignore him and informed his packmates about Oikawa's high skill level. He had learned from watching the other Omega setter and looked up to him, even though he was eighty percent sure that Oikawa hated him. If Tobio was considered good by his teammates, he wanted them to know that Oikawa was stronger - at least, now he was.

The alien-obsessed setter spent most of the third set warming up, and finally, when he entered the game, he scored a bunch of points from serving at Tsukishima and Hinata, who were currently lacking in the receiving department. Thankfully, after some advice from Sawamura, Tsukishima was able to get the ball up, and Karasuno won the third set, and therefore the whole practice match, with a quick attack from Hinata and Tobio. Tobio was entirely smug about the shocked look on Oikawa's face when he failed to recieve the fast-moving ball.

After the match, before Karasuno loaded onto the bus, Tobio went to go to the washroom. He walked down unfamiliar hallways, following the direction of the sign on the wall to get to the washroom. When he pushed the door open, hinges squeaking, he immediately saw Kindaichi washing his hands at the sink.

Tobio stepped inside the room and the door swung closed behind him. He stared at Kindaichi for a little while before opening his mouth to apologize. 

"Hey, Kindaichi, I'm so-"

"Don't apologize again!" Kindaichi cut him off. "You already tried at the end of our third year in middle school. I thought I already told you this. You, me, and Akira, we were never friends in the first place. Who would want to be friends, let alone teammates or packmates with someone as terrible as you? I thought you'd know this by now, but it seems like I have to remind you again."

Tobio felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. Kindaichi was right. Who would want to be his friend? Who would want to be his teammate? Who would want to be packmates with someone like him? He was such a terrible person, a terrible Omega, nobody would want him around.

"Yeah," he said.

"You couldn't even get a team to like you for three years in middle school, imagine yourself in five years. Lonely, pack-less. Nobody _likes_ you, Kageyama. Nobody _cares_ about you. Your teammates just need you to win volleyball matches. You got that?" The tall Beta sneered.

Tobio's eyesight was blurring, and he couldn't tell if it was from the tears gathering in his eyes or if he was having an Omega drop. He hoped he wasn't because that would just reveal his secret to everybody. His scent blockers didn't cover the scent of an Omega drop for safety reasons, so if he had one, everybody would _know_.

"Yeah," Tobio agreed with what Kindaichi was saying. Nobody wanted him, they just needed him. His new pack at Karasuno was probably hiding their disgust every time he walked into the gym or the club room.

Tobio noticed the door behind Kindaichi swing open then shut again. It was Kunimi. The other Beta still had the same shoes as in middle school, and Tobio could still tell even with blurred eyesight.

"Oh?" Kunimi said, "What do we have here?"

"The King tried to apologize again, just like last time, remember? When we were in our third year of middle school. But what's the point in doing that if we were never friends to begin with, right?" 

"Right. Don't get too worked up about this, Yuutarou. Look, now he's starting to cry. How pathetic."

And yeah, Tobio now noticed the feeling of tears tracking wet trails down his cheeks. It felt like they were carving into his skin.

"Let's go, Kindaichi. I don't want to deal with a mess like him."

The door swung open and closed again. Tobio dropped down, sitting on his knees. Nobody wanted him, nobody wanted to deal with _a mess like him,_ as Kunimi said. He wouldn't have a pack, his packmates would always _leave_ him. It seems like he was lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that his packmates actually cared about him, but who was he kidding? He was unlovable as the blurred, dark piece of hair on the bathroom tile in front of him.

Now, he was on his hands and knees, it was getting hard to breathe but he didn't think this was another anxiety attack. It felt different. Vaguely, he noticed a burnt scent start to invade the room. Someone must be having an Omega drop. Tobio hoped they were okay. Maybe he should go and find them? He couldn't see at the moment though. Everything was white and peaceful, it was so calm. Noises were fuzzy and he could vaguely hear the bustle of Seijoh's team packing up in the gym. His vision whited out and he slumped onto the cold floor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!!  
> i made radish head and sleepy-chan way meaner here LMAO SORRY  
> i love them but for the sake of the story i had to make them meanies oops O-O  
> <333


	10. flying sink monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the title of this has no big meaning, i just thuoght it was entertaining haha  
> someone says that though, or thinks it i think, idkk  
> anyways so sorry for the long wait but hey, i updated!!  
> please lmk if theres mistakes its one in the morning and im tired :)  
> thank you sososososooosossosoosososososooo much for reading!! <333333

"Oi, Shittykawa!" Iwaizumi Hajime yelled across the gym. Seijoh was taking down the nets and cleaning up the court since the practice match was at their school. Oikawa was supposed to be helping Watari with putting the net's poles away, but he seemed to be talking with his adoring fangirls.

When Oikawa didn't acknowledge him, Hajime took one of the balls which was in the ball basket beside him and threw it up in the air. He did the run-up approach for a jump serve, which he had recently gotten the hang of and could aim accurately, and hit it right towards Oikawa's fluffy, brown head. It sailed through the air and a smacking noise and whine of, "Mean, Iwa-chan! That hurts, you evil imbeci- you bully!" let him know that he hit his target.

"C'mon, Crappykawa, we all want to go home and rest up for tomorrow. Now get over here and _help_!"

"Alright, alright, don't get your panties in a twist, Iwa-chan," the brown haired Alpha said before winking and starting to say goodbye to the simpering girls near the doorway. Hajime finished up with his original task of putting one of the nets away and cleaning up stray volleyballs and moved on to help their poor libero - Oikawa was taking way too long with greeting his fangirls to help - with putting away the poles.

He hefted one of the poles out of its designated hole on the floor and held it carefully with two hands. Hajime did not want to hit anyone, lest anyone get injured and have to sit out from practice. Carefully, he made his way over to the area where the poles were stored and slotted it in one of the little spots. The pole wasn't that heavy, but his body was already tired from the practice match, so he was a little winded.

Hajime started to walk over to the storage room to help Matsukawa mop the floor when he noticed Kunimi and Kindaichi walk into the gym. The doors swung open and closed behind them, carrying a slightly burnt scent. The scent of an Omega dropping.

Hajime's eyes widened fractionally and he immediately went to rush out of the gym.

"Iwa-chan, where are you running off to? It can't possibly be to be with an Omega, none of them would want your angry face, right?" Oikawa cooed from across the gym. Hajime snarled, but ignored him.

"Iwaizumi-senpai? Is there something wrong?" Kindaichi asked, his voice slightly timid. The tall Beta was always shy around Hajime, maybe intimidated?

He could see Yahaba and Kyoutani looking at him with supremely confused looks on their faces from where they stood together near the far corner of the gym. Why they were standing there, Hajime did not have a clue.

He ignored the confused questions and stares of his teammates, brushing them off with the response, "I forgot something in my locker."

He didn't want the Omega to become even more overwhelmed if his teammates followed him. It seemed like he was the only one that picked it up, which was good because he was sure that a commotion would not help the Omega's situation at all. The burnt scent got stronger and more pungent as Hajime neared the washroom. This was a scent that Kindaichi and Kunimi were probably not familiar with it, so he was not surprised that they didn't notice. 

The third year Alpha kept walking at a brisk pace down the hallway. The washroom was just around the corner and that seemed to be where the scent was coming from. It wouldn't be long until he got there.

———

Hinata Shouyou was standing outside with his teammates, beside the bus. Everyone was there except for Kageyama. Now, Shouyou knew that his best friend could take care of himself, but what if something happened? It was the bathroom, after all, scary things always seemed to happen there. Kageyama could have been attacked by a flying sink monster, for all he knew.

The small Alpha sprung up beside Sawamura and the older boy jumped. Sugawara visibly held back a laugh at the brunette's reaction, and had a harder time holding back his laughter when Sawamura bonked him on the head lightly. Sawamura turned his head to look down towards Shouyou.

"Daichi-san, can I go look for Kageyama? In case he like, uh, fell into the toilet or something, that idiot," Shouyou said.

"Sounds like something he would do, stupid King," Shouyou heard Tsukishima mumble from where he stood beside Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi elbowed Tsukishima's side - it probably hurt more than it looked like - and the blonde Beta grunted out a pathetic apology. Nishinoya was in awe over the fact that Tsukishima actually apologized - for something he said about _Kageyama_. The libero and Tanaka started teasing Tsukishima, Nishinoya slamming his hands down on the tall blonde's shoulders - how he reached that height must have been a miracle - and jumping up and down. Tanaka was forcing Tsukishima to bend down as he caught him in a headlock and ruffled his hair, laughing good-naturedly - _that_ was probably how Nishinoya reached Tsukishima's shoulders.

Sawamura raised his hands to briefly massage his temples, sighing before responding, "Yes, just don't get lost, okay? No shenanigans either. Try to be quick, we all want to go home soon, right?"

"Yes, sir!" Shouyou said before jogging back into the large school building. He walked up the stairs, trying to find the washroom closest to the gym, where he knew Kageyama went. That's when he smelled it. The burnt scent meant that an Omega was dropping, Shouyou knew.

That idiot Kageyama could wait, even if he somehow fell into the toilet or got attacked by a sink monster - or worse, the Great King, Oikawa. If an Omega was dropping, Shouyou was obviously going to try and help them, first and foremost. It was funny that the scent seemed to be coming from near the bathroom that Kageyama was supposed to be in.

 _Oh god,_ Shouyou thought, _I hope Kageyama didn't unintentionally cause someone to drop. He does get a little confused during social situations sometimes. Surely if he did cause them to drop, he would be freaking out by now, which doesn't really help the situation_.

Shouyou kept trekking on, climbing up the stairs quickly and bounding up the steps before breaking into a fast walk when he reached the hallway. The hallway didn't seem to be getting any shorter, so Shouyou broke into a sprint, hoping to help whoever it was that dropped.

His surroundings blurred around him as he ran quickly down the hallway. He turned the corner, the wind _whooshing_ past his ears and then... 

_Crash!_

———

_Crash!_

An orange blur crashed into Hajime's chest as he neared the doors to the washroom. Hajime really got the wind knocked out of him just then; whoever it was that crashed into him was running _fast_. He looked down.

"...Chibi orange?"

Said 'chibi orange' looked surprised as he nearly yelled, "S-Seijoh's Ace?!"

The orange-headed boy looked somewhere between intrigued and utterly terrified, "I ha-I have a name, you know. I'm Hinata Shouyou and I'm gonna be the ace!"

"Iwaizumi Hajime," Hajime nodded at the smaller boy and smiled calmly, hoping to make the first year less scared of him. Hinata smiled brightly, but still looking quite scared, before pushing open the door to the washroom.

 _Oh right,_ Hajime thought, _there's an Omega dropping right now._

He followed the tiny Alpha - judging by his scent - into the washroom and was instantly met with a strong, burnt scent, stronger than it was outside the room. Hinata looked frozen in place, staring at the floor. Hajime looked to the floor to see Kageyama laying there. _Kageyama_.

Hajime hadn't known his old kouhai was an Omega. He couldn't even tell during the match. From the looks of it, Hinata hadn't known either.

After both boys got over their momentary shock, they moved to where Kageyama lay and kneeled beside him. Kageyama was lying on his side, facing the sinks and where Hinata was sitting. He was ghostly pale with the skin around his eyes tinted pink. His breathing was so shallow, it was hard to tell he was breathing at all. Hinata started to gently brush Kageyama's slightly sweat-damp hair away from his forehead. He kept on lightly stroking the raven haired boy's face with gentle, soothing touches.

Hajime reached over to grab Kageyama around the ribcage and gently propped the boy up against his firm chest. Hinata moved forwards, so he could be closer to Kageyama in this new position and resumed stroking his face. Hajime stroked large fingers through Kageyama's hair while Hinata started whispering coaxing phrases in Kageyama's ear as he stroked his round cheeks.

Both the Alphas released calming pheromones through their scent, hoping to draw Kageyama out of his drop. They didn't want to overwhelm him though, so they didn't let too much more of their scent out than they would naturally.

———

Tobio was calm, suspiciously calm. It was like he was having a dreamless sleep, floating through white nothingness. Usually, his mind would be running in the background of whatever he was doing, distracting him sometimes with thoughts of volleyball and anticipation for practice, the knowledge that he could get so much stronger. Now, his body felt heavy, as if a weighted blanket or seven were placed on top of him, but he had gotten used to it.

Absently, he felt a callused hand stroke across what felt like his forehead, everything was too fuzzy to tell. The hand kept on gently petting his face, and he hated to admit that it felt good. Suddenly, he felt his whole body being moved to rest up against something very warm. Thick fingers came up to run through his hair repeatedly.

"... just dropping... 'yama... safe here. You're...na be okay. C'mon, idiot, I know... can come back to us."

His brain recognized the voice as well as some familiar, soothing scents. Alpha pheromones, he assumed, based on what he had been exposed to with his mom's calming pheromones.

Another voice, a deeper one, joined in. There was a rumbling against his back when the person spoke, "...geyama...wake up, bud...you're alright."

Slowly, the voices became more clear and his body started to feel lighter. He pressed back into what felt like a chest behind him, and felt the Alpha rub a cheek against his hair. Two hands smoothed over his cheeks and gently patted them. Tobio scrunched his nose slightly; that tickled.

He finally became aware enough to notice a bright light coming from what he thought were fluorescent lightbulbs on the ceiling. Tobio squinted his eyes open slightly and was instantly met with a pleasant shock of red hair and the horrible, piercing brightness of what were, indeed, fluorescent lightbulbs on the ceiling.

Tobio's attention was mostly on the familiar figure in front of him, Hinata. His instincts were craving the touch of a packmate and best friend after an intense drop. For once, he gave in; Hinata already knew by now.

He leant forwards and winced slightly at the pounding in his head before draping himself over the orange-headed Alpha's body. Tobio nuzzled his face into the crook of Hinata's neck to block out the light because every one of his senses felt sensitive, especially his vision. When Hinata tried to push him away, Tobio whined in the back of his throat and held on tighter.

"Relax, I just wanted to see if you were still really pale," Hinata said, bringing a hand up to pet his raven hair. 

"Is it too bright? You can cover your eyes if you want, or close them," Iwaizumi said from behind Tobio. The Omega had almost forgotten he was there. Tobio reached a hand out behind him and rested it on the cold, tiled floor. The third year rested his hand on top of Tobio's; he was happy to be a source of comfort for his kouhai.

"Yeah, I know my cousin got really hypersensitive after she dropped, maybe it's the same for you?" Hinata said.

Tobio nodded into his neck, covered his big, blue eyes with a hand, and pulled back momentarily. He waited until Hinata pulled him back into a soothing embrace before wrapping his arms around the smaller boy again. His eyelids were starting to droop shut as he breathed in his own pleasant vanilla scent mixed with Hinata's usually-bright-but-now-infused-with-calming-pheromones scent and Iwaizumi's rich, minty, earthy, also-infused-with-calming-pheromones scent. It was a strange mix, but it soothed him nonetheless.

The shrill ringing of Hinata's cell phone blared throughout the bathroom, making Tobio cringe and back up into Iwaizumi's chest once again. He wanted to get as far away from the offensive noise as possible - while still having physical contact with one of the two others in the room. Iwaizumi wrapped his arms around Tobio as the taller-but-slighter boy crawled into his lap and took refuge by burying his face into Iwaizumi's neck.

Suddenly, the ringing stopped and Tobio looked up at Hinata, who had answered the phone.

"Daichi-san?" He heard Hinata say. Tobio hadn't thought of what they were going to tell the rest of the team. Were they holding everybody up? Hopefully the bus hadn't left yet. 

Hinata kept talking, "Yeah... about that, it's a long story. You may want to send someone up here? Maybe you or Suga-san, Yamaguchi, or - I hate to say this - that jerk Tsukishima? Just one though, please! Yes, I promise we'll tell you later. 'Kay, thank you, Daichi-san! Bye-bye!"

 _Fuck,_ Tobio thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!! if there were any mistakes or inconsistencies please feel free to lmk in a comment or smth? bc i didnt edit this hueheueheueh 
> 
> thank youuu so much im so happy you read this if you read this :D  
> <33333  
> ily alls


	11. you’re still loopy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hello sorry for the long wait my brain didn’t want to do anything sorry aaahhh well i finally finished? enjoy!!!  
> <333

The Karasuno Volleyball Club members were milling around the parking lot, awaiting Kageyama and Hinata's return. Daichi stood the closest to the entrance, looking exasperated as Sugawara - instead of scolding them - joined Tanaka and Nishinoya in antagonizing Tsukishima.

"Oi, Sawamura!" Coach Ukai yelled from where he stood beside the school bus' doors, "Is everyone almost ready?"

"Almost, Coach. We're just waiting for Kageyama and Hinata. Hinata went to go grab him," Daichi hollered back.

Come to think of it, the two first years were taking a suspiciously long time. Daichi pulled out his phone and dialled Hinata's number. He held the phone up next to his ear and heard it ring a couple times before Hinata picked up.

"Hey, Hinata. I was just-"

" _Daichi-san?_ " He heard Hinata say.

"Yeah, it's me. Where are you guys? Coach was asking if we were all ready."

 _"Yeah... about that, it's a long story. You may want to send someone up here? Maybe you or Suga-san, Yamaguchi, or - I hate to say this - that jerk Tsukishima? Just one though, please!_ "

Daichi's brows furrowed in slight confusion, "You have to tell me what happened later though."

" _Yes, I promise we'll tell you later. 'Kay, thank you, Daichi-san! Bye-bye!_ "

The phone made a clicking noise as Hinata hung up promptly.

 _Who should I send up?_ Daichi thought.

He looked over to where the vice captain was goofing around with the second years and immediately decided not to send him up. He seemed preoccupied with bothering Tsukishima. They were causing a bit of a ruckus. Removing Sugawara from the situation wouldn't stop Tanaka and Nishinoya from bothering Tsukki. Getting Tsukishima out of there would immediately get rid of most of the commotion.

"Tsukishima! C'mere," Daichi called.

The blonde boy's head immediately perked up, eager to get away from his bothersome upperclassmen. He walked at a quicker pace than usual over to Daichi - eager to get away from his antagonizers.

"Yes, Sawamura-san?" Tsukishima said once he was closer to Daichi.

"I'll need you to go into the school to grab Kageyama and Hinata. Apparently, it's a long story, but they need someone to go in," Daichi said, watching the blonde boy carefully for his reaction.

Tsukishima scoffed, looking to the side briefly before turning back to face his upperclassman, "Fine, only because it will get me away from them," he said, aggressively motioning towards his now-calmer upperclassmen with his head. Daichi smiled out of relief, looking calm on the outside. Internally, he was singing praises to the heavens because it would finally be quieter.

"Try to be quick, alright? Oh, and they should be in or around the washroom, I think. Just go up the stairs, there's a couple signs to help," Daichi said, staring at Tsukishima's back as the young Beta walked towards the school. He heard Tsukishima's faint response, but couldn't quite make out what he said. Knowing Tsukishima, it was probably a positive but unenthusiastic response.

———

Kei pushed open the doors to the school and stepped inside. A cool, air-conditioned gust of wind hit his face immediately after he came in. He shivered slightly, skin still sweat-damp from the game, and looked around.

Aoba Johsai was a big school, a fancy school. There was a glass ceiling overhead that let sunlight through, a staircase, and a couple rows of lockers and doors in the far hallways. Kei could smell the gym, mixed scents, an underlying hint of sweat, and... an Omega dropping?

The scent seemed to be coming from upstairs, which was where Kei needed to go anyways. He quickly walked up the stairs, a concerned frown forming on his face. Faintly, Hinata's scent along with someone else's slightly familiar but not identifiable scent were there. They were coming from the same direction.

When he got to the top of the stairs, he turned, following the scent and coincidentally, the sign pointing out the direction to the washroom. As he walked down the hallway, the scents grew stronger.

Now, he could smell the underlying tones of vanilla through the sour, burnt, omega-drop scent. That was familiar, Kei had definitely smelled that scent before, but _where?_

Soon, Kei reached the bathroom and nudged the door open near-silently to see Hinata, Kageyama, and a third year from Aoba Johsai sitting on the floor. Kageyama was tucked closely to the third year's body, face buried in his neck where his scent gland was. Hinata was behind Kageyama, running surprisingly-gentle fingers through his dark hair and murmuring things Kei couldn't hear into his ear.

"Excuse me," Tsukishima said, "What happened here?"

The three on the floor jumped a little out of surprise before Hinata turned to face him.

"Oh, he sent you," Hinata said, no malice in his words, just curiosity. How _annoying_.

"Uh, yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Now, what's going on?" Kei jerked his head in Kageyama's direction.

"Okay, so I ran into the school like fuaah, trying to find Kageyama, right?" Kei nodded and Hinata continued, "Yeah, then I smelled the smell of an Omega drop, y'know, and I followed it and then I was running like zoom and then I crashed into Iwaizumi-san, bam!" Hinata pointed to the third year on the floor, "-and we came in here and Yamayama-kun was on the floor and I couldn't see anyone else and it turns out that he's an Omega?"

This was obvious to Kei as he could see Kageyama, obviously incapacitated and small in the third year's - Iwaizumi-san's, his brain supplied - arms. The burnt scent of an Omega drop had faded away, leaving behind a sweet scent, vanilla-like. Although he kind of expected the King to be an Omega, unlike Hinata and some others, he wasn't completely oblivious, based on some of his mannerisms that were similar to his own Omega mother's. He didn't let himself believe Kageyama was an Omega because how could he keep it hidden so well?

Hinata was talking very fast and it was a little hard to understand him, "Slow down there, shorty," Iwaizumi whispered from his spot on the floor.

"Okay, right, thanks. And I couldn't tell if Kageyama was breathing. It was scary but don't worry, he was breathing, and Iwaizumi-san and I managed to make him more aware. Uh, I think by now he's completely out of that hazy kinda mindset - he's a bit oversensitive though. And~ yeah, that's basically it," Hinata said.

A low, muffled voice came from the floor, "Shut the fuck up, dumbass, you're too fucking loud."

Rather than getting irritated and snippy like he usually would, Hinata knelt down beside his best friend and murmured a - thankfully - quiet, "Sorry, Yamayama-kun, I forgot about my voice level, oopsies. You okay?"

Kageyama nodded into Iwaizumi's neck, Hinata stroked a hand soothingly over his black locks. It was at that moment that Kei noticed that he was awkwardly standing over the three on the floor - how embarrassing - and remembered that the sole reason he was there was to bring Hinata and Kageyama down to the bus.

"Hinata, we need to get back to the bus now. I can carry the King if he's too tired to walk, I don't think you can do it because you're so short, and also, I don't want to trouble Iwaizumi-san anymore," Kei said, pushing his glasses further up his nose and crouching down low - not kneeling on the floor, bathroom floors are absolutely fucking filthy and he was not going to lower himself down to that level.

"Fuck you, Stingyshima, I could totally carry him. I just am not in the mood today, so you do it! Are you okay with that, Kageyama? Do you wanna walk or can Tsukki carry you?" Hinata said.

Kageyama made an almost illegible noise of assent, "Don't wanna walk, please."

Kei hesitantly reached out and stroked his fingers through Kageyama's hair - only to get him used to another person touching him before he picked him up. Kageyama nudged his head up into the touch, obviously comfortable with him.

"Are you guys gonna be okay? It's not a bother at all if you need help," Iwaizumi said.

"Thank you, Iwaizumi-san, but I think we will be fine," Tsukishima said, bowing slightly towards Iwaizumi with his head.

"You have your own team to take care of too, so we don't wanna keep you for too long! Thank you for all the help, though!" Hinata said, jumping to his feet dramatically and bowing deeply.

Kei sighed, how embarrasing, he's so dramatic. Iwaizumi seemed endeared by Hinata's eccentric behaviour and huffed out a small laugh.

"Alright then, I'll leave him in your care."

Kei coaxed Kageyama to loop his arms around his neck before picking him up off Iwaizumi's lap. The third year Alpha stood up, brushing off the seat of his pants and heading to the sink to wash the floor germs off his hands. Kageyama's legs wound around his trim waist and he nuzzled his head into the crook of Kei's long neck.

———

Tobio let Tsukishima pick him up off the floor and shivered imperceptibly at the loss of heat from Iwaizumi's body. He breathed in the faint, strawberry scent emanating off the Beta. It did not mix very well with the scents of the other two in the room, but on its own, it was a nice scent. Not a nice person though, why Tsukishima was being nice now, Tobio would never know.

He let himself relax into the blonde's sturdy hold as they walked out of the bathroom with Hinata bouncing alongside them. Tobio could feel Tsukishima slowly and carefully carrying him down the stairs. Usually, he would feel bad or embarrassed about this, but now, he was too tired to care.

Hinata, for once, was not talking at all. It was slightly disconcerting, but when Tobio sluggishly lifted his head off Tsukishima's shoulder, he caught a glimpse of Hinata's concerned face before his head was gently pushed back down. Tobio felt a little guilty that he kept his "being an Omega" secret when Hinata and, surprisingly, Tsukishima seemed to not mind him at all once they found out.

Before Tobio knew it, the boys had already reached the front door of the school. It was still practically deserted, the few students that walked by not paying them any mind.

"Oi, King."

Kageyama grunted in response, somehow managing to sound whiny.

"Do you want Hinata to go out and tell them to load the bus already?" Tsukishima asked. Tobio heard Hinata protest the decision, not wanting to leave him alone with Tsukishima, but the blonde reassured him, with no small amount of annoyance, that Tobio would be fine.

"Why?" Tobio asked.

"Are you an idiot? Actually no, don't answer that, you're still loopy. We thought it might be overwhelming for you to go out there when everyone else is still there," Tsukishima said.

Huh? "Who is _we?"_

"Me and Tsukki!" Hinata piped up.

"Don't call me that, you imbecile," the eye roll was apparent in his voice.

"C'n Hinata go tell 'em? Please?" Tobio asked.

"Gasp. Is the King saying _please_ to us commoners? You must really be out of it. Okay, go Hinata," Tsukki deadpanned.

———

Shouyou quickly bounded out the doors and onto the parking lot. He looked around, trying to find Daichi, but couldn't see him anywhere.

"Oi, Hinata!" Sugawara called. Shouyou's head snapped up at his call, "Daichi is just inside the bus, talking to Takeda-sensei about something, if you were looking."

 _But how did he know I was looking for him?_ Shouyou disregarded that thought and walked over to the bus. He climbed up the little stairs and saw Daichi and Takeda up there.

"U-uh, hi Takeda-sensei, Daichi-san! Can we- everyone, uh, load the bus?" Shouyou managed to choke out.

"Sure, Hinata-kun, but why?" Takeda asked.

"Something happened that I'm sure you'll find out later or maybe you'll be able to tell, but can we talk about it when we get to the school? Is that okay? Tsukki and me don't want Kageyama to get too overwhelmed or anything right now."

“Ah,” Takeda furrowed his brow, “Okay, sure. Sawamura-kun, would you be able to get everyone on the bus?”

“Sure, sensei,” Daichi said, nodding politely.

———

Meanwhile, Tobio was slowly drifting off to sleep, still being carried by Tsukishima - who was now sitting down. Hinata should be back soon, and then they would go on the bus and be back at Karasuno. They should be able to go home soon. Tobio wanted to go home.

He wanted his nest and that one, specific fluffy blanket, and maybe some warm milk. Tsukishima’s hand was on the back of Tobio’s head, stroking the black locks of hair. It was relaxing and Tobio thought he liked Tsukishima better when he wasn’t being mean.

The doors swung open with a creak behind Tobio and Hinata came in.

“Hey, guys! Let’s go, everyone is on the bus already and are being quiet, or uh- quieter than usual anyways,” Hinata said.

“Okay. King, are you ready?” Tsukishima asked.

Tobio hummed in affirmation. He felt Tsukishima’s arms tighten around the backs of his thighs and looped his arms around the blonde’s neck as he stood up. The doors swung open and Tobio was instantly hit with a wave of the ‘outside smell,’ which was so strong he almost gagged. He tucked his nose deeper into Tsukishima’s shoulder and breathed in his comforting scent instead.

They walked up the two stairs of the bus, Hinata walking in front of them. The scents of everyone on the bus, though usually calming, were assaulting Tobio’s still-sensitive nose.

The whispers on the bus died down almost completely as Tsukishima sat down and set Tobio down beside him. Hinata took the seat behind with Yamaguchi. Tobio immediately tucked himself under Tsukishima’s arm and dozed off against his side.


End file.
